Back home, everybody gathered at the island's hub in admiration of the golden propeller. Practically everybody on the island had come together while they chattered among themselves, Chihiro among them as she bragged about her (most definitely over-exaggerated) feats.

"Finally, you got it!" Hugo shouted as he gazed at the propeller with utmost joy.

"Yep!" Chihiro exclaimed with utmost glee. "You wanna hear about how we got it?"

"Maybe tomorrow, Chihiro." Hugo clicked his tongue. "It's getting late, we'd better get some sleep."

Hugo rubbed his eyes, and he yawned again as he turned towards the crowds behind them, which had finally dispersed as everybody broke off to rest or attend to night shifts.

As she was left with little company to commune with, Chihiro shrugged and bounced off.

"Speaking of sleeping," Hugo remarked as he saw Spyro cross his path, tapped Spyro on the back, and watched as Spyro jumped in his place.

"Hugo, it's just you," Spyro panted as he stumbled back for mere moments and regained his composure.

"Spyro, we've got something important to discuss," Hugo's gaze turned away from Spyro and towards Chihiro. "We need to figure out where she's going to stay while she's here. Do you have any ideas?"

"I was hoping you'd have thought of that." Spyro turned back to Chihiro and frowned just enough that his fangs poked out of his mouth. "Because I don't really have anything."

Nobody could come up with a suggestion, which lead to just an awkward silence… An awkward silence that was soon interrupted by Hugo as he snapped his fingers together.

"A-ha! I just remembered!"

"Remembered what?"

"Come on, I'll show you, and go get Chihiro, while you're at it."

Spyro shrugged and flew over to the center of the ruins, the place where the Core used to stand. As he looked over the empty space, a pit opened up in Spyro’s heart. The battle that happened what seemed like just days ago flashed back into his mind, and he just sat there, frozen, as the whole battle seemed to reanimate itself—the screams of anger and confusion, the sound of the Core blasted to bits, the wreckage flying across the island while Spyro himself could only stand petrified by shock—

"SPYRO!" Chihiro shouted.

Spyro jumped in his place with a shout of surprise, before he fell back down and glared down Chihiro. "Don't sneak up on me like that!" Spyro spat as he shook slightly.

"You okay, Spy? You look like you just saw a ghost!" Chihiro chirped as she chuckled and poked his forehead.

Spyro shook his head and bit his lip just slightly enough to go unnoticed. "I'm fine, now come on, Hugo wants to show us something."

Chihiro oohed and jumped in front of Spyro.

"What is it?"

"He's going to show us, now come on."

The two of them then rejoined Hugo, before all three of them nodded and walked off…

§

Hugo led Chihiro and Spyro through the earthy path before them, while the overgrown trees loomed over them and provided shelter from the cold and chilly moonlight. It was completely silent until Chihiro finally hummed and cleared her throat.

"What are you showing me, anyway?" Chihiro asked as she tilted her head just so.

"You'll see," Hugo said as he gave Chihiro not one glance while they continued their trek through the path.

After that, the only sounds heard were their footsteps and the sound of insects and birds cricketing and cawing throughout the night.

"Are we there yet?" Chihiro asked as she gazed upwards. But, she found that she could see barely anything and just moved forward.

"Don't even start,"

Hugo caught a shimmer of light, smiled and quickly walked towards it. It followed up with an even brighter light as the trees dissipated, as if they were making way for what was ahead. His whole party soon found themselves at the front yard of a large one-story building made entirely out of stone with a wooden door and a rusty bronze knob that seemed to be covered in cobwebs and dust but was otherwise intact.

"We're here!" Hugo announced as he rushed to the door and jiggled the knob open.

There, they found a humble wooden hallway that was covered in dust, with many, many wooden doors with the same rusty knobs of the house's door. It felt a bit concerning, like a haunted house filled with horrific ghosts, but surely there was nothing of the sort there… Right?

"This used to be a safe house for refugees of the Skylanders," Hugo explained as he adjusted his jacket. "If a prominent villain was chasing someone, we'd take them under our wing and let them stay here until the threat passed,"—Hugo glanced down the dust-covered corridors and coughed—"of course, we haven't had to use it in years, so it might be a bit run-down."

Hugo turned around and found that Chihiro was now gone and one of the doors was wide-open. The rusty knob fell off and rolled onto the floor, and dust floated in from the open room.

"Chihiro?" Hugo called as he walked into the room and peered in.

Inside, he found that Chihiro had already settled inside the room—a simple bedroom with tan walls, oakwood floors and a white mattress covered in thick white blankets—and had fallen asleep.

"You must have had a long day." Hugo closed the door and made a kindly chuckle.

Spyro nodded solemnly and they both exited the building before they nodded again and parted ways.

§

As Hugo grew further and further from Spyro's view, Spyro heaved a heavy sigh. The pit in his heart grew deeper as he flew off towards the heart of the island and took care not to lay an eye on the empty spot where the Core of Light used to be. He couldn't feel those awful feelings right now, he had better things he needed to worry about besides himself…

His flight took him to a large, stone tower that he immediately entered. A large, empty stone hallway, the coolness of which was emphasized by the autumn weather, greeted him next and seemed to beckon for his further entry. As he bit his lip, Spyro flew through the hallway and towards a room on its righthand side.

It was a simple, large room which contained several glowing round objects that were embedded into the floor. Each one glowed with a different color—purple, orange, blue, red, and even more. Spyro flew over to the purple orb, disregarded those around him and plopped down onto the orb before he was whisked away by the magic sphere.

When he reappeared, he was in a large, purple room with lavender crystal walls that seemed to sparkle in the artificial light let out by the violet and hot pink crystal ceiling.

It's a good thing we were able to get the Sanctuaries set up again, Spyro thought with an unfaltering gaze. Even if they aren't as nice as they used to be.

Normally he'd stop and admire the view, but he was so tired in more ways than one that he just flew across the floor. His flight lead him to a small cavern with dark purple stone walls and chiseled slate gray stone stairs. At the end of these stairs was a hallway with slate gray stone walls and floors and multiple wooden doors with stone name plates attached to them. The hallway itself was barren, and everything around seemed cold and lifeless.

Guess the others went to bed already, Spyro thought as flew towards the rightmost door and opened it.

Inside, it revealed a simple room with a large, straw nest and various assorted objects strewn about. The room he called home was far from fancy, but he kind of liked it that way—something about it was oddly comforting after the hectic chaos of the past several days… Months? Whatever, time conversion was too complicated for Spyro's exhausted brain at the moment.

I should get some sleep too, Spyro thought as he walked onto the nest and curled up. Maybe if I'm lucky, I'll wake up and this'll all be a nightmare.

And as that thought lingered in his mind, Spyro closed his eyes and fell to slumber…