A/N: This is the joint story of Centrifugal Convexity and SpyroXCynderMyLove. It is a completely original plotline, and will have many twists and turns along the way. Enough talk. Time to read and review!
Spyro looked into the morning sunlight, squinting from the brightness of the golden rays. He rolled off of his bed and walked stiffly to his balcony, looking out at the half-constructed tents and stalls of the festival.
Spyro sighed. Why they simply had to throw him a worldwide party was beyond him. He simply wanted to be left alone, to be free from the constant congratulations, handshakes, and occasionally, marriage proposals that were constantly bombarding him. He shook his head and walked back into his room, where Cynder lay, still sleeping soundly. He sighed, his annoyance from his fans melting away as he watched the black dragoness sleep.
He kissed her on the forehead, and turned back toward the balcony. "I'll be back in a little while," he whispered to Cynder's sleeping form. With that, he ran out of his room and onto his balcony, using the railing to launch himself into the air.
After a short moment of free fall, he spread his wings, gliding down toward the ground next to the giant fountain that had just been turned on. The water spluttered, trying to get the air from the pipes that fed the water to the fountain. Countless moles scurried to and fro, carrying objects and supplies that seemed too heavy for their small frames to support.
A giant, yellow and blue mass stood on the other side of the juggernaut courtyard that had seemingly appeared overnight. Spyro hopped back into the air, flapping his wings a few times to give himself some height, and glided the rest of the way to the elder.
"Ah, Spyro! You're up awfully early! As you can see, we are all busy for your and Cynder's festival. Ooh, it's going to be so much fun for us all!" Volteer boomed at Spyro upon his landing. "Everyone is so excited for all of the food and festivities, not to mention they're still probably on their respective adrenaline highs, between the fear of Warfang being invaded, the world splitting apart, and your triumphant return!"
"Volteer," Spyro raised a claw, trying to speak.
"… And, not to mention, everyone is absolutely astounded—ah, no alliteration intended, of course—that you and Cynder were able to single-handedly defeat Malefor and all of his minions… Although, I suppose that since there were two of you, it would be 'double-handedly', instead of single-handedly…"
"Volteer," Spyro said again, louder this time.
"… I suppose I should really look into that, you know—there is no joy such as grammar, you know! Yes, I'm sure that there is a book somewhere in the library that contains instructions on what to do if there are two subjects single-handedly defeating something at the same time and in conjunction with each other..." Volteer was no longer talking to anyone in particular—he was simply rambling to himself.
"Volteer!" Spyro called up to him, fighting back a laugh.
"… I just might have to create a book on that myself—I've written at least twenty of the books in the temple library, I'll have you know… Ah, what is it, Spyro?"
Spyro smiled up at him. "I was just dropping in to say hi, and stretch my wings a little to get the soreness out," he said. Volteer's ramblings always seemed to put him in a good mood, while they annoyed most people.
"Ah, yes, stretching out the old wings. It's good for a young dragon to get their exercise, particularly those such as yourself and Cynder, what with all of the fighting that you two do. Yes, you two need to stay in tip-top condition if you want to stay alive, let alone unscathed. Even then, I know this one unlucky fellow that trained his whole life to fight in the war with the apes, and during the first few minutes of the first battle that he was in, he was attacked by at least five apes at the same time. The poor fellow didn't last but a few seconds after that. But, I don't mean to say that you and Cynder won't suffer the same fate—no, you two fight together, guarding each other, keeping each other safe…"
Spyro found a comfortable spot on the ground and sat down, listening to Volteer ramble on and on. He found himself laughing occasionally at some of the things that Volteer said, particularly those about his younger years, when he was training to be a guardian.
Cynder awoke slowly, her eyes adjusting somewhat painfully to the harsh, mid-morning sunlight. She yawned, reaching around for Spyro. The only thing that she felt was the warm spot that he had left next to her. She harrumphed slightly; she hated it when Spyro left without her.
Cynder rolled slowly off of her bed, landing somewhat painfully on her feet—her knees and legs were still sore from their battle with Malefor, and that was nearly two weeks ago. She yawned again, walking slowly to the balcony. She put her front legs on the railing and sat, laying her head on her paws.
She looked around the giant courtyard for the blurry, purple oval that would be Spyro. Upon finding him sitting in front of Volteer, she rolled her eyes, despite the back flip that her heart always did whenever she saw him. How he actually enjoyed listening to Volteer ranting on and on was beyond her.
Cynder laughed slightly and shook her head, turning to go back into her room. She walked to her dresser, and slipped on her foreleg, neck, and tail bracers. Lastly, she donned the silver rings on each of her horns, pressing down on them to make sure that they wouldn't fall out off, or out of place. She shook her head, making sure that none of them would fall off.
She looked at herself in the full-length mirror that hung from the walls next to her dresser. Satisfied with her appearance, she trotted to her door, occasionally shaking her head to try and wake herself up.
Cynder trotted through the still-empty halls of the temple, her claws clacking against the tiles of the floor. The echoes sounded almost haunting, sending an eerie shiver down her spine. She had always wanted to use her Siren Scream in one of the halls of the temple, just to see what the echo sounded like.
She took the stairs at the end of the hall four at a time, running along the wall whenever the stairs made a 180 degree turn, laughing at a few moles that ducked as she bounded over their heads. When she reached the third floor landing, she skidded to a halt and faced the wall. She looked around, making sure that no one was looking. Satisfied that she was alone, she pushed the tip of one of her claws into a crack in the wall.
The wall seemed to disintegrate into nothing, revealing a dark tunnel illuminated solely by sporadically placed torches. She grinned to herself and stepped into the secret passage; as soon as she had entered it completely, the wall repaired itself, darkening the tunnel until it was nearly as black as pitch.
"I love magic", she thought to herself with a grin.
She began to trot through the shortcut, counting the torches that marked the exit from the tunnel, each of them leading to a different room; most of them were storage closets, but she had a special destination in mind.
The black dragoness blended perfectly with the tunnel, her deep, aquamarine eyes and her pink underbelly being the only things that would have been visible, had someone else been in the tunnel with her. In fact, she could almost feel a presence behind her…
She whirled around, only to be met by hundreds of menacing, beady eyes, illuminated not by the torchlight, but something else. Cynder screamed and bolted away from them, shielding herself with her Shadow element should they try to hit her with arrows or something. She looked back and nearly screamed again—whatever was behind her moved just as fast as she could, and could apparently see through her shadow element.
She could only press herself to run faster, and pray that she didn't slip on the slightly slimy floor of the tunnel. The end of the tunnel led to the gigantic courtyard, and to open air; Cynder just prayed to the Ancestors that she could get there without the whatever-they-weres hacking her to bloody bits.
A chill went up her spine and adrenaline shot through her veins as the creatures began to chant something in a gurgling language that Cynder couldn't even recognize. However, it was certain that it was a death chant, and it was for her.
Tears began to spill from the corners of her eyes as she felt the creatures closing in on her. Her still-sore legs and chest screamed from the exertion, but she only pressed herself to go even faster—she simply couldn't die in these cursed tunnels, where no one would find her for weeks, possibly months. They might not find me at all, thought Cynder with horror. No! She pushed the thought out of her head. I have to see Spyro!
The thought of her purple lover seemed to strengthen her, and she was able to put on a burst of speed. As the end of the tunnel came into view, she felt something grab onto the tip of her tail blade, slowing her down. Panicking, she screamed, inadvertently using her Fear element and her Wind element at the same time, causing a sonic shockwave of fear to tear through the tunnel, blowing out all of the torches in sight.
The creatures seemed to be stunned temporarily, and Cynder used the distraction to escape the tunnel for good. "Spyro!" She screamed as she jumped out of the tunnel and into the courtyard.
……
Both Spyro and Volteer jumped when a small shockwave rattled the pebbles beneath their feet, followed by a harsh, blaring scream. "What was that?" Spyro wondered out loud. "It sounded a little like Cynder…" He trailed off.
Volteer sent a few shocks of electricity into the earth, using it to feel for the electromagnetic fields that all living things possessed. Initially, all that he felt were the countless moles that were preparing for the festival, but when he concentrated harder, he could feel a familiar presence that only touched the ground for a short amount of time.
As Volteer tried to figure out what the presence was, a feminine voice shouted, "Spyro!" from the pile of rocks that marked the entrance to the secret passageway into the temple. Volteer's heart dropped to his feet as he figured out what had happened. Before he could say anything to Spyro, however, a black blur tackled Spyro from the entrance of the secret passageway, screaming his name over and over.
Cynder latched onto Spyro's side, crying into his shoulder and whimpering his name into his warm scales. Spyro, who was still trying to recover from being tackled by Cynder at full speed, simply rubbed the back of Cynder's neck and shushed her gently. As he regained his composure, he began to notice how much Cynder was shaking, not to mention the fact that he had never seen her cry like she was.
It took several minutes for Cynder to calm down enough to speak. By that time, a large circle of moles had gathered around, trying to see what was wrong with Cynder. "Don't you all have something to be doing?" Volteer barked, uncharacteristically harsh, dispersing them. "Now, what's the matter, dear?" He asked Cynder with a much lighter, almost parental, tone.
Cynder choked back a sob. "S-something… In t-the t-tunnels… C-chased me… I-I… don't k-know what it-t was," she said, her teeth chattering against each other.
Volteer frowned at her, thinking. "What would that be, Cynder? No one but the guardians, you, and a select few individuals even know that the tunnels even exist. I highly doubt that there was someone in there with you," he said, trying to calm her down.
"You think I'm crazy?" Cynder snapped at him, her tears flinging to the side as she whirled on him. "Look in there yourself!"
Volteer immediately regretting saying what he did. "I'm not saying that you're lying, Cynder. I'm just saying that it's extremely improbable that what you say happened, actually happened." To her scowl, he said, "I believe you."
Cynder harrumphed. "Stop using the odds of something to make your decisions. Spyro and I had a next-to-zero chance of defeating Malefor and his army and make it out alive, but we did anyways. Spyro had a next-to-zero chance of saving me from Convexity and keeping his life, but he did anyways."
Spyro shushed her gently. "Calm down, sweetheart. Now, what was chasing you?" He asked her, trying to gather as much information as possible from her before she closed up to him.
Cynder sighed; she had stopped crying by now, but an occasional hiccup made her and Spyro bounce slightly, as she was still maintaining a viselike grip on his sides. "I don't know; I almost want to say that what I could see of them looked like Grublins, but I could only see their eyes." Another tear slipped down from her cheek. "Ancestors, their eyes…" she whimpered, beginning to shake again.
Volteer moved over to the small pile of rocks and slid a claw into the space in between two of the rocks, making them move away to reveal the gaping mouth of the tunnel, big enough for Volteer to stand comfortably in.
"Be careful," Cynder warned.
Volteer nodded. "Don't worry, my dear Cynder. I might be old, but I can still fight along the rest of them should the need arise. I've always been the spryest of the Guardians," he said, somewhat proudly.
Spyro nudged Cynder in the side, signaling her to unlatch herself from his side. She did so tentatively, putting her aching paws on the pebbly ground slowly—running through the long tunnel had rubbed them nearly raw. Putting his wing over Cynder's back, Spyro led her to where Volteer stood at the tunnel entrance.
Volteer inhaled and blew what looked to be an entire electrical storm into the cave, the rocks on the ceiling illuminating with the electricity, brightening the entire tunnel until it was almost as bright as broad daylight. Volteer peered into the tunnel, squinting slightly. "Nothing seems to be out of order, besides a few cracks in the wall. I assume that that was you, defending yourself from your assailants?" Volteer questioned with a raised eyebrow.
Cynder nodded, looking down at her paws, ashamed that she had caused damage to the ancient temple. Volteer lifted her chin with the tip of his long tail. "Don't you worry about that," he said with a reassuring smile. "Our good mole friends are astoundingly good craftsmen, and will have that fixed in no time. In the meantime," he said, catching the attention of a passing mole and giving him a nonverbal command. "I assume that you both would like something to eat?"
Cynder nodded, allowing herself to be led by Spyro back into the temple, where she felt safe—at least for the time being.
Please take the time to review us!
~My Love's Centrifuge