Author's note: Before we begin, I need to clarify that this is a revamp of B1ackbird's unfinished story, Eclipse. B1ackbird is an adept beta reader and it is under their careful guidance that I write. Of course, this story differs greatly from the original, so please consider leaving a review about what you think! Thanks!
Update: 05/2018. Chapter 1 has been almost completely rewritten to better establish characters and setting while also adding further details and improvements.
The Starlight Eclipse
Act 1 - Three Days
Chapter 1 - Reemergence
Amidst a flurry of bewildered blinks and a surge of febrile blood through her temples, earth and sky blurred into a splattered wreck of aquamarine pastels...
Vistas funrished by a dozen levitating islands of rock bearing decayed structures - the remains of the old dragon temple - were eclipsed by an encroaching darkness around her vision...
That same darkness turned the lustrous cumulus leviathans, pacifically floating by, into vengeful storm clouds. Serene landscapes bled their vitality and melted away to black and grey...
A sharp intake of breath overwhelmed her senses with pungent sulfur and suffocated her with blistering ashes.
Cynder shook her head violently, returning to Avalar's vibrant forest which she was dreamily soaring over, blithely diving and spinning just above the surface of a sea of trees, a sea stretching far past the horizon. For a fleeting moment, her head throbbed and she fumbled to stay airborne as her vision warped, as if she was gazing upon the endless green pastures and floating islands before her through a swirling veil of water. The purple dragon who had been joyously chasing her moments earlier slowed and swiveled himself to face her, hovering in the air with a questioning expression rapidly twisting his previously blissful face.
"Cynder? Is something wrong?" Spyro implored as he drifted closer and in response, she shot him a reassuring smile. Everything here was perfect. She felt so carefree, so... heavenly.
"Wonderful." That simple world echoed in her head and she opened her mouth to reply when a odd realization forced the words back down. She stared at her purple companion, who met her gaze motionlessly. The past glee had bled from his face and now, he hovered there almost as if he was frozen in place.
"Hello? Earth to Spyro?" She tentatively glided closer.
"Yes, Cynder?" An almost automatic smile returned, but rather than feeling at ease, his expression aroused a strange suspicion in her gut. Why did he sound so... unfamiliar? No, that wasn't it. Unnatural? That's a lot closer. Yes, it was almost the same voice of the purple dragon she'd grown attached to over their journeys, both physically and emotionally, but with a strange touch to his intonation that made him sound... sound... She stared at him, at his now strangely emotionless face. unnerving? If only a little. Empty? Yes, empty! She fluttered backwards and stared into his purple eyes, looking for the spark, the lilac flicker. A mimic of wax stared back, lifeless, hollow.
Such descriptions were so unlike his nature.
Her breath quickened. What had happened to Spyro? She suddenly felt unbelievably dizzy and amidst the lighthearted sensations, deep within her core, a voice told her that this wasn't right.
She took a sharp inhale and tried to think. How did I get here? Weren't we at-.
A place of unbearable heat with pouring orange walls. Her mind strained to make sense of a blur of images now flooding into her.
Walls of liquid fire.
A massive crystal the only relief from incineration.
The core of the Earth!
Her eyes shot open as pain reintroduced itself as an unrestrained torrent and it clawed into her, tearing a shrill screech from the base of her throat. Bones grating against each other, her body breaking and putting itself together, her claws sinking into her temples as she stifled another scream while earth and sky distorted before her, bulging as if something was tearing reality apart before its fabric converged towards a point in front of her, dragging a curtain of shadow over her vision as colors condensed into a tiny, glowing ball that would quickly be snuffed out.
She drifted away amidst a sea of ink.
But the ball didn't succumb to thet dark; instead, it coalesced inwards, growing brighter and brighter until a fledgling star took its place, shaking violently and flinging waves of light into space.
Then it stilled, if only for a moment before a supernova smothered her world with colors, colors of the entire spectrum that danced to a silent serenade before they bled vibrant images that jumbled together to form incoherent scenes.
She saw a distant Earth shattering like a suspended glass marble beneath an invisible cosmic hammer, being torn asunder by cataclysmic fire erupting beneath it's fractured crust, trembling in its perch amidst the cold blackness of space.
She saw the agonized face of Malefor as his soul was besieged by spirits. The mighty purple dragon who plunged the world into decades of bloodshed, who nearly drove his own race to extinction, lay broken and defeated, just a morsel of prey being rend by incorporeal beasts..
And there she was! With Spyro beside her, both of them sharing an eternal second as he accepted his fate, his cursed destiny, and prepared to sacrifice themselves so others could live to see another dawn's gentle glow. "Get out of here, Cynder!" He had shouted at her, begged her to leave.
She vehemently shook her head. "You don't have to do anything. Let's just go!" As her own stricken voice echoed in her brain, she couldn't help but laugh. There was no leaving. It was far too late for that and Spyro knew it too, but perhaps it was common courtesy to suggest alternatives before asking someone to die with you.
She knew he would point out that there would be nothing left, not unless he could undo what is predecessor had catalyzed, even at the cost of both of them. She felt his eyes burn into her so she met his gaze and smiled, granting him a reassuring nod, wordlessly conveying that she understood what will happen and that she wouldn't leave even if she could for here, with him, was where she belonged and in that moment, an intoxicating concoction of strange tranquility and matchless fright pulsated through her veins. This was her price for atonement and she could think of no better way for her story to end.
She stepped forward to embrace the consuming light emanating from her partner as it expanded outwards to renew the dying world.
"I love you..." She couldn't believe those words just exited her mouth. Getting rescued twice and falling for the hero. Did she really want something so cliched to be her last words? Plus, for all she knew Spyro could just view them as partners, forcibly chained together and having to make the best of it.
Ah well, it's not like it'll matter in a few moments... So she let her confession flow out as no more than a gentle whisper to be engulfed by thunderous radiance, hoping it would reach her companion's ears in the mere moments they had left before whatever came after.
The light faded and she found herself amid a featureless white plane beneath a equally vapid pitch-black sky and both stretched endlessly around her. Is... Is this what comes after? Her eyes traced the polished ground, crawling upwards until she stopped at the sharp horizon. She raised a forearm against the black canvas above and frowned when her limb vanished despite being much lighter in color. It was almost as if whatever light washing up from the ground below was being devoured.
"Hello? Spyro?" A deep panic crawled up her stomach when not even her echo answered back, she flung her head left and right, trying to find something, anything. No, she can't be stuck here, not this place without sounds or sights. Grant her pain if her absolution wasn't enough. She could take that; after all, it was all she knew for the first dozen or so years of life... just don't let me be alone. Not after she'd been granted a taste of what it felt to belong.
Abruptly, sulfur and ash choked her senses again, this time without relenting, and the world began to warp around her as if reality's grip had faltered. She barely had time to gasp when the sky plummeted over her, sealing her in the dark.
Cynder's body was already scrambling upright even before her eyes had begun to open. When wide emerald irises finally revealed themselves to the world once more, they were greeted with the expansive sight of suffocating nothingness. The last vestiges of her dream died away and she blinked rapidly, shaking her head as full consciousness finally returned to her. Her heart thumped with the intensity of a fusillade and her limbs all shook despite the uncomfortably hot stale air around her. She took a deep breath and instantly regretted it as the heavy sulfuric smell of volcanic vapors again invaded her lungs, making her cough violently before she could gasp feebly for life-giving oxygen again, but even as she gagged on the fumes, her lips were pulling themselves into a deranged grin. It was just a dream, that desolate plane.
She forced herself to calm down and sit, closing her eyes once again, slowly discovering the pains and aches around her body.
Alive... She was alive… or at least she assumed she was. It hurt too much for her to be dead… She was also in some sort of cavern, judging how the noises around her echoed over massive walls, or more specifically, it was an old lava chute judging from the volcanic rock she felt beneath her feet and the dry, ashy, near poisonous air that scorched her throat with each breath. Briefly, she wondered if Spyro felt such unpleasant sensations when he used his fire element. The weak, wispy wheeze of a gentle breeze flowing by seemed to confirm that it was indeed a tunnel of sorts and a constant rumble seemed to echo from the deeps below, the resonating noise of the planet's own breaths. She jolted when she noticed that just dimly audible over it was the sound of another raspy overworked pair of lungs… draconic lungs.
"Spyro…?" She gasped, her voice so hoarse that she she couldn't recognize it as her own and as she stumbled forwards, the pain in her cracked throat choked out another cough so she tried swallowing what little saliva she had to dampen her moisture-famished esophagus.
"Spyro!" She rasped again, this time in a slightly louder croak, her voice echoing along the sides of the chamber enclosing them.
Where is that dragon? She could still hear the breathing but now it was much closer. Suddenly, her front leg collided against a heavy object on the ground, sending the dragoness tumbling over the obstacle with a startled oof, where she landed in an undignified heap. Huffing and rolling back onto her feet, she poked around at the lump that tripped her with her pointy tail blade, jumping slightly in startled surprise as a weak groan replied to her action…
Warm scales, a pair of wings, and a pair of sharp angular horns that resonated with familiarness… yep, she found him alright. The horns, the many sail-shaped fins running along this dragon's back… she nearly threw herself onto him as overwhelming joy erupted from her core.
They were alive... Both of them.
She sighed in relief when another raspy draw of air originated from the dragon; then, he moved, groaning once again in pain as consciousness slowly seeped back into him. His first reaction was to jolt and stagger upright upon sensing her presence until she whispered, "relax, it's me."
There was a moment of silence before she felt an arm reach out and gingerly tap her shoulder and she placed one of her own paws of his, reassuring him that they were both alright.
She gasped as the grip on her shoulder tightened and a binding squeeze enveloped her as two arms and wings promptly wrapped around her like a cozy cacoon.
"Cy-Cynder... a-are you okay? We're not dead are we?" His voice was so shaky and weak but also brimming with optimism.
Her response was to return his embrace with her own before saying, "A bit sore, but I'll manage and no, we're not dead."
He stifled an overjoyed sob and hugged her tighter. For an ephemeral moment, the dark surroundings, Sulphur-laden air, and the prospect that they were in fact trapped down in the bowels of the earth became second priority.
"Thank goodness you're okay, I was afraid that-" Cynder flinched back as Spyro suddenly released her and fell into a violent bout of coughing, his form curling as he quickly covered himself with a wing while the harsh noises bounced around the cavern. She reached out and tenderly tried placing an arm over his shoulders when he finished… tried, instead, Spyro grunted and let out a sharp ak when she jabbed him on the side with a sharp claw.
"Oh, s-sorry… Are you okay? I doubt we're lucky enough to have both gotten out unscathed." She sheepishly winced as her own wounds reminded her of the fragile state that they must both be in.
"It's fine, and strangely enough, I think we were just that lucky." Spyro replied while painfully rubbing the new sore in his side. "I mean, everything hurts, but I don't feel any broken bones. Though there might be one problem..."
"Yes?"
"Well, we're either stuck in a cave or, and this may sound kinda dumb, I've gone blind."
Cynder raised an eyebrow in the dark. What? She was about to blurt out the answer when a playful little voice held her back and instead, a wicked smile stretched over her lips. "What?! We're outside right now, can't you see me?" She tried to stifle any humor in her tone as the sound of him swiveling his head back and forth in a panic followed her words, but evidently, a tiny meep escaped because the whooshes of disturbed air quickly stopped and even in the dark, she could feel two amethyst eyes burning into her... or where he thought she was.
"That was pretty dirty." He muttered and her laugh returned with even more vigor than before. If the purple dragon could only see the incredulous expression flash frozen on her face, he would've turned as red as a life crystal, but a second later, he joined her uncontrollable laughter until sucking air into their burning lungs made each breath all the more painful and even then, it took another few seconds before they could stop. Cynder cleared her throat, still spontaneously emitting "Mph"s of suppressed giggles before it occurred to her that he had laughed as well at his own expense.
"And just what do you find so funny?"
He chuckled and told her, "I never heard you sound so... carefree. Or laugh so hard. I don't know, but I really like this change."
Suddenly, the darkness of the cave was quite welcoming as a blush blossomed over her cheeks, but she realized that he was right. That this was the first time she'd ever been so happy, even if they were currently in such inhospitable an environment. She felt light, carefree without an ominous shadow looming over her. "You're not blind," she assured him. "We're just trapped in a very dark tunnel, probably a volcanic shaft that we were hurled into when you pulled your little stunt of saving the world…" She dropped her snarky tone for a much softer serious one. "Which worked I'm presuming." She paused, focusing on the fact that finally, their responsibilities were lifted.
"We finally did it... we're finally free." Her words were mere whispers but they sang louder than the choir of the bellowing earth in Spyro's ears.
He took a moment to silently contemplated those words.
Free… what a wonderful, foreign word it was for him. Free to be without the weight of the world resting upon his shoulders… free to live a life that war stole from him… and especially from Cynder. They were free, that was true... so now what?
"First, we'll need to find a way out." his companion's words echoed his thoughts and he nodded before realizing that neither of them could actually see each other, luckily, he had an element to solve that problem.
As immediate as the fire he breathed out painfully stung the two dragons' eyes with blossoming,blinding light, it withered and died, leaving them both to hack and suck feebly for air.
"Ack! Spyro, are you trying to get us killed?" Cynder coughed between breaths while Spyro sheepishly laughed. Of course, fire took oxygen, and there was preciously little of that luxury in this constricting cave system.
"Sorry, let me try again." He closed his eyes and cycled through the powers bestowed upon him as a purple dragon. Earth… that seemed an obvious choice; after all, earth was what surrounded them in rather copious quantities.
The ground beneath them vibrated and Cynder watched as a soft green glow lit the area around the paws of the purple dragon as he became one with the rocks beneath his feet, crawling through them, pushing outwards to sense where stones ended and where there lay open path.
Then, the glow faded and Spyro felt a wave of nausea wash over him momentarily as he swayed unsteadily. His entire reserve of mana had already been expended in the convexity fury he used to pull the world together.
"What's wrong? Cynder asked, though now her voice seemed to come from all directions at once."
"I don't think I've any magic left in me right now." Spyro groaned, feeling his head pound.
"Yeah, you did pull ths entire Earth together. I'd be surprised if you had magic to spare." Cynder giggeled and reached into her own dwindling Mana puddle. There wasn't much, but she definitely had enough to get them out. Speaking into the darkness, she said, "Nice try Spyro, but you need to rest. I'll handle this." She adopted the same stance as he did, but this time, willed the wind to speak to her, to tell her from what distances they blew from and from which directions they ebbed and flowed. It only took a moment for her to trace a current being fed from somewhere in the darkness. She then let out her own wind, just a gentle breeze, in that direction, feeling as it caressed over stones and other debris along the path. Satisfied, she opened her eyes.
"I know the way out, grab my tail." She swished the appendage in his direction and a moment later jolted as a jaw full of sharp teeth clamped down just below the blade.
"Ow! Spyro!" She squealed, more from surprise than from the actual pain but the grip loosened immediately and a muffled "Sorry!" followed a second later.
She huffed before giving the tail an experimental pull, nodding when she felt the drake following it like a hooked fish, a really big, really purple fish.
"Good, now try not to trip." She warned before letting the wind guide her… or rather right after she guided her tail first slowly into a wall, hearing a startled yelp as the purple dragon fell back and rub his snout.
"Why…" He grumbled.
"Because you bit me, now hush, I am trying to get us out." She made sure to add as much sarcasm into her voice as possible, laughing as she taunted the purple dragon to retaliate. He, however, seemed to realize his disadvantage and mumbled, "I'll get you back later."
To her chagrin, the way out wasn't as clear cut as she had hoped, with multiple cave ins that they had to navigate over. Each one proved its own challenge as the volcanic rock – both sharp and loose – made traversing a painful and sluggish chore. Spyro tried to simply blast a way through with his earth element but every time, the only thing he could move was a few pebbles before his reserves were exhausted again.
She found that kind of funny, how the purple dragon of legend, savior of the planet, was now being outmatched by a few fallen rocks, a fact that she flippantly vocalized, but the sound of his grumbled response made her feel quite guilty so she bumped him with a wing and said, "I'm kidding hotshot. It takes a special dragon to do what you did."
That seemed to cheer him up a bit as he bumped her back playfully. As the wind guided them towards the surface, they chatted about whatever random topics that came to mind. Food, funny moments, cherished memories... when they saw a sliver of golden light at the end of a steep climbing tunnel, Cynder was busy recalling their games of hide and seek with the other dragons studying at the temple, before those dragons left one by one for the safety of Warfang as the war grew dire. They shared laughs when he recalled how once, caught out in the open, he had tried hiding in a berry bush growing in the garden and emerged with a new coating of dark blue scales. The more they talked the more there was to talk about as they cheerfully bumped back and forth in drunken swings, letting out pent-up giggles spontaneously.
To the purple dragon, the ever-growing golden rays of a distant sun marked a pause in their jovial conversation even though they both had so many more words bubbling within, eager to be heard, but currently, he had a little revenge planned for the dragoness who lead him head-first into a wall.
As Cynder paused at the painful brightness, the purple dragon gave her tail a quick yank before crouching and tripping her with his body. She landed back-first with a surprised oof before glaring daggers at him. He merely smiled innocently before making a mad dash for the exit, hearing the fumbling of limbs behind him as his victim gave chase. Despite the narrow cave, he still found enough room to open his wings and take flight, moving much faster as he skimmed just a meter above the ground.
He almost made it into the sunlight when suddenly, a gust of wind seemingly came from nowhere and knocked him off balance. Instinct told him to compensate accordingly, training, however, reminded him that Cynder could easily fling him off-course with her element so he simply rolled with the gale and gracefully landed on his four feet in a sprint.
The move, unfortunately, was just enough for Cynder to close the distance. Her eyes narrowed and a sly grin crawled over her face as she barreled into the unsuspecting purple dragon.
With a surprised yelp, he was knocked head over heels as the dragoness tackled him, throwing them both into the light where they rolled on the ground, play-fighting and screaming in uncaged laughter, enjoying for the first time what it felt to be free.
Without a clear victor, their attention slowly shifted to the brilliance of the reformed world stretching beyond them as their sore muscles tired and complained about their mistreatment. Their eyes took a moment to adjust to the sunlight and as the world came into focus, they found themselves on a small opening on the slope of a mountain, just one of a jutting range whose jagged, ominous peaks cut into bulbous cumulus clouds drifting lazily high above.
As Cynder scanned the vistas, she noted that they were in fact situated within a valley, a wide one whose borders were almost completely enshrouded by mist, but her jaws dropped in awe at those hazy white cliffs stretching a kilometer into the sky. Situated against the valley's rolling hills was a lush cloud forest where exotic trees and giant mushrooms stretched majestically skyward. It reminded her of the cloud forests she saw in paintings of exotic lands located far, far away from Warfang. A sparkling blue river snaked through the valley, splitting in several places and being interrupted with cascades of small rapids in others. It seemed so peaceful… unravaged by the corrupting decaying hands of war.
She sighed and tapped Spyro gently with her tail blade, making him shift his attention to her.
"How does it feel?" She murmured with half-closed eyes fixed onto the beautiful vista.
"How does what feel?" He tilted his head and raised an eye ridge.
"To have saved a place like this."
Spyro looked at her for a moment longer before flashing a toothy grin. "I feel tired firstly, but apart from that..." He waved an arm over the valley. "Everything I-we've been through in the last five years suddenly feels so worth it."
Cynder let out a humorous humph in response, smiling as she began to plan out their next course of action; however, she was interrupted when the purple dragon cleared his throat and spoke again.
"And I couldn't have done it without you, Cynder. With all that's happened, I haven't had the chance to say something that... er... I probably should've mentioned in the past hour we spent climbing our way up." She glanced at him, noting a hint of skittish uncertainty span his features. That's unusual. Uncertainty wasn't a trait she saw often.
"Yes?" She had a feeling what this was going to be about and though her face betrayed nothing, her heart pounded just a tad bit faster and her eyes widened ever so slightly to flick back and forth over his visage. A fluttering feeling blossomed in her stomach as butterflies tickled her with their wings. When she had admitted her feelings towards the dragon who saved her, fought with her, and stood by her, the thought of survival seemed like a long shot, but now that chance dictated that they remained alive, she was ready to stand by her words… as long as the purple dragon felt the same.
"I love you..." Three simple, yet so strangely ominous words...
Spyro nervously chuckled before swallowing and coughing out, "I-I wanted to say that… after all that's happened, I never had the chance to tell you how important you are to me and how thankful I am to have someone as patient and skilled as you to have my back for the past few years. I don't know what I'd do if you weren't there." He seemed to want to say something else but ended his sentence there.
Cynder's lips curled into a broad smile, though she was slightly disappointed that he was missing those three important words in his testimony. Nonetheless, to have someone care despite her checkered past left her feeling... strange. A good strange, a happy strange, a strange she knew not the word for for it was so alien to her.
"Well considering we were linked together, there wasn't much choice for me was there?" She replied facetiously, smirking when Spyro squirmed uncomfortably under her gaze. Before he could regret anything, she extended a wing, wrapped it around him, and pulled him close into a tight hug, whispering into his ear.
"You also forgot to add how funny and deadly I am…" Her voice came as a quiet hiss and she felt him quiver slightly. She released her hold on him and met his eyes before smirking. "As for where you'd be, I'm gonna go on a limb and assume dead."
"Well, I mean-" He started stammering, but a raised claw tapping against his nose told him that she wasn't done yet. He waited for her to finish, meeting her stare until she smiled, leaned in, and planted a delicate nudge against his cheek.
"I wouldn't trade it for anything." She reared back to catch sight of Spyro's expression of complete abashment, but as he caught her content gaze, his expression happily mirrored own.
Then a flash of pain quelled the joy and his face fell as he abruptly cowered behind his wings, another bout of coughing erupting beneath.
"Spyro!" Cynder gasped and inspected him when he finished and looked back up at her. He didn't appear injured but a trickle of blood stained his lower lip.
"I'm fine, it's just the exhaustion!" He quickly stated, waving her away. "Don't worry about me, a bit of water and I'll be good as new." He cast her a reassuring smile.
Cynder raised an eyebrow but didn't question him; in fact, now that he mentioned water, she felt her own throat painfully complain.
"Alrighty Spyro, whatever you say…" She smirked and flared her wings before looking over her shoulder at the purple dragon who stared back questioningly.
"Try to keep up!" She stuck her tongue at him and shot off into the air, making a beeline for the river.
Spyro stood there, eyes wide in surprise before a second later, he too took a running start and threw himself off the ledge, letting his wings catch the humid air before setting off in hot pursuit.
The cloud forest below turned into a blur as Cynder weaved and rolled around trees and the occasional rocky outcrop, flaunting her agility. She kept herself close to the mountain side, accelerating herself with her wind element as well as with gravity. Behind her, Spyro was falling swiftly behind. She frowned. Normally, he posed more of a challenge. Either he was truly dead tired, or not really up to race just yet. She frowned and bit her lip, mentally kicking herself for drawing her into such exertion when he had expended so much energy earlier. Just this one, then no more.
The trees fell away to reveal the sparkling river in all its glory, with the powerful roaring rapids and refreshingly crisp water drawing her attention the most. With one fluid motion, she tucked her wings against her body and rolled onto her back in midair, sending herself darting through the surface like a kingfisher diving after prey.
The cool clear abyss swallowed her, washing away the volcanic dust, parching her dried throat. She stayed within its dark blue depths for a second longer before powerfully flaring her wings and propelling herself upwards, through the surface, and back into the air. Few dragons could match her natural finesse and raw power, a fact she was secretly quite proud of.
She landed in the shallows, letting refreshing water run down her scales and dribble down her legs and chest while she closed her eyes and craned her head upwards, savoring the welcoming respite from the prevailing heat while she waited for her companion. Around her, the sky was filled with flocks of multicolored birds and insects far too large for comfort, buzzing and fluttering just over the water until. That is until the surface shattered and an elongated toothy jaw shot upwards and snatched a fowl from the air, sending the rest scattering in a panic. She shuddered as the rest of the creature's body slipped into the air, revealing some strange fish with an eel-like body but a meter long jaw. Plates of natural armor shimmered in the sunlight before it flopped back underwater, dragging its prey down with it.
That thing's almost as long as I am... She scrunched her face up and mentally noted to herself that it would be prudent to check for dangers before diving head-first into the unknown.
A long exhale carried exhibited her dwindling patience and she resorted to impatiently swishing the water around her paws, watching as small rainbow-colored fish with two large paddle-like fins on each side dart away from the disturbance. Spyro usually wasn't as fast as her, especially if she used her wind element to cheat, but he normally had no trouble staying hot on her heels. This... this was just plain unusual. She had barely pulled herself onto the rocky beach when her muscles clenched.
She stopped, dead in her tracks as a discomforting tingle surged down her spin.
The symphony of the forest had suddenly changed tempos.
The birds had stopped singing… the lively forest had gone deathly silent. Somewhere in the tangles, a series of snaps told her that something was on the move and it was capable of crushing through trees.
Her instincts kicked in and she dove into the shadows of a nearby tree, eyes warily searching through the thick undergrowth for enemies. Her eyes traced the trail of rumbling and crashing as it approached from her right.
Before she could think anymore, a choked shriek cut through the bush, the fear-laced wail of a dragon. Instantly, Cynder was in pursuit.
"Spyro?!" She gasped in worry while darting through the undergrowth. No, it didn't sound like him. Besides, he's not one to turn tail and flee. A patch of sunlight exposed itself through the dense leaves and she crashed into a clearing of uprooted saplings.
"Hey! Are you-" Her words died in her throat as she skidded to a stop. A feathery back colored dull green towered at least two meters over her. Broad shoulders, a stout neck, short back legs but long front ones, it was a terrifying monster she'd never seen before, but despite its imposing shape, the colors it wore blended it near perfectly against the surroundings, so much so that she had nearly collided with it.
The beast had its back to her, its long arms ending with three curved and unnaturally elongated claws were flailing against a thicket of thorns, swatting at something cowering underneath. Its arm raised for another vicious swipe before it froze, sniffing the air.
With deceiving slowness, it turned to face her and exposed to her a view of its horrifying jaw. The shape resembled a mutated parrot except enlarged to monstrous proportions and instead of a beak, there was a massive jaw lined with sharp blood-stained teeth sticking out on either side. The creature parted its maw to emit a low growl and a pair of beady eyes inspected her briefly before the beast poised itself to strike. The foul smell wafting into her nostrils nearly made her gag, but she forced the bile back down her throat as she snarled in return and prepared her own claws.
She barely stood at the thing's chest and perhaps, if she was a normal dragon, she would've fled in terror long ago, but she was no normal dragon… and she had taken down foes far, far larger. But a flash of pain in her joints reminded her that she was still recovering from her last battle so she was nowhere near her full combat capabilities, especially with a dwindling elemental reserve. Inwardly, she cursed herself for using so much mana to feed her wind power during her mad-dash towards the river.
But she was still far from defenseless.
The beast, seeing her unmoving stance, growled and stalked cautiously towards its prey, unused to facing a meal that intended to fight back. It drew closer and closer towards the smaller dragoness until she whistled, drawing its dull gaze towards her own pulsing and glowing crimson rings. The beast stopped instantly, then a second later, turned and howled at her before bolting away, putting as much distance as it could from the towering dragon dribbling poison out of its jaws.
Cynder blinked and the illusion fell apart and she grinned with satisfaction as the predator fled in absolute terror and when its retreat no longer reached her ears, her attention shifted towards what the beast was chasing in the first place, which she presumed was still cowering in the thicket. She approached it carefully in case she startled it.
"Er... Spyro?" She murmured, craning her head to try to get a glimpse. She doubted the purple dragon would resort to cowering in fear from such a beast considering he had fallen a golem as tall as a skyscraper, but who else could it be? She glanced inside and caught a flash of white scales before a moment later, a pair of gold curved horns that pointed upwards jabbed up from the thorns. Attached to them was a dragon, a dragon around her age, she noted in surprise. He was looking away from her, towards where the monster had vanished.
Slowly, crawled up from the bush, white scales glimmering despite the muck and branches that now stuck to them, his movements shaky as he nervously scanned the trees.
Cynder studied the dragon for a moment longer. He was definitely male, had a muscular build, a bit more bulky than her or Spyro anyways, and sported a golden spade on the end of his tail. While his horns sort of reminded her of Spyro's, they were instead curved instead of angled and grew as triangular prisms. Apart from a few scrapes and bruises, the only real injury he had was a slice along his right-wing membrane, most likely inflicted by the sharp claws of the beast. It was nothing a few red crystals couldn't heal.
Finally, deciding the silence was becoming to overbearing, Cynder cleared her throat and spoke.
"Uh… hello?" She jumped in sync with the other dragon as he spun to face her. Immediately, wide hazel eyes reflected fear as he yelped and scrambled to put distance between them.
"Terror of the Skies…" Cynder gloomily thought to herself. "He must be scared of me." Well, no better time to start making amends than now...
"Please, I'm not here to hurt you, I heard the-" She took a step forwards but immediately, a searing hot pain exploded against her chest and knocked her back with a agonized screech. She seethed in pain as the burning sensation faded and rolled back onto her paws to see a white tail disappear behind a tree, fleeing away.
She forced herself to give chase, that dragon could be the only hope she and Spyro had of returning home."
Luckily for her, the dragon was fairly easy to track, be it his panicked state or sheer lack of experience, he made no effort to conceal his route. She quickly closed in on him and could see flashes of white scales in between the bushes until finally, she tore through a cluster of branches and emerged back onto the rocky shore of the river. The other dragon was stopped as well but upon seeing her, he growled as menacingly as possible.
"Stay back fiend!" He yelled and began charging another beam of… whatever it was in his mouth. This time however, Cynder was ready and as soon as the beam of brilliant white light erupted from the dragon's jaws, she feinted to the side, feeling the hot beam pass harmlessly by and crack into the woods behind. She made no attempt of attacking though, whatever this dragon was, he was capable of something she never witnessed before. She narrowed her eyes as two more bursts of light shot in her direction and gracefully leaped out of their way.
"Please, I don't want to fight!" She yelled to no avail, raising a forearm which proved to be her undoing as in her moment of attempting peace, another beam sailed right at her and she hastily ducked, landing awkwardly on her paws. Before she could balance herself, another scream tore itself from her throat as a brilliant bolt of energy impacted her wing, throwing her back. She growled and ignored the burning sensation. This fight had to end... and she had to play risky to end it quickly.
She didn't want to hurt this dragon and her elements were already strained so that left getting close and wrestling him into submission as the only way she could incapacitate him. She flexed her claws, eying the dragon as he positioned for another shot. The moment it came, she blasted off, rolling in the air around the beam before slamming claws first against the trunk of a tree, shoving off as another beam exploded it into splinters. She was now nearly above the white dragon, who stared at her with wide, terrified eyes. She dove down at him, aiming to tackle the dragon when a strange shimmer materialized in front of her. Before she could even think of changing course, a solid barrier seemingly materialized from thin air in front of her and she collided painfully against it, shrieking as her entire body seemed to be enveloped in burning pain. Blearily, she opened her wings to slow herself down but to no avail as she collided painfully against the ground, tumbling, and rolling from the impact before coming to a rest, facing the blue sky, breathing heavily as her body was racketed with pain. She hated when risks didn't pay off.
Before she could move, a set of shaky talons planted themselves on her long neck, shoving her back down against the earth. The blurry figure of the white dragon came into view, eyes still wide. She studied the dragon, noticing the quivers of his claws and the uncertainty etched over his face.
He was no killer, she was certain of that. He was simply scared, terrified of her and what he believed she was. She reached a paw out again, slowly and as non-threateningly as possible. "H-hey! I'm not here to hurt you." Not that I could at the moment... She tugged at her shadow element. Maybe she could muster enough mana to slip away. Hopefully, she could convince this dragon to allow her to explain herself instead of opting to simply slash her throat before she could… hopefully.
Before she had a chance though, a whooshing noise caught her attention and a split second later, a purple blur collided with the dragon holding her down, shoving him away and slamming him into the pebbles while grappling for control.
Cynder let wavering breath she held go and took a moment to gasp and stare at the sky, huffing in relief. Spyro was finally here… took him long enough.
She rolled onto her feet in time to see Spyro finally emerge on top, pinning the other dragon against the ground.
"L-grk-let me go! Sh-She'll kill us both!" The dragon beneath him screamed, frantically flailing wildly under Spyro's hold. He looked up at Cynder in confusion but she simply shrugged, still preoccupied with rubbing the spot where those claws had pressed down, so he turned back to the white dragon.
"Listen," he adopted the sternest and most authoritative voice he could muster… which she noted wasn't very. "She's not going to hurt anyone, she's with us now and we just want to talk!"
The dragon paused. "Us? No, no, she's no dragon, she's a Devourer! Let me go!"
Spyro looked back up in confusion. Devourer? What? He looked at Cynder again.
"What is going-oomph" He grunted as the white dragon, taking note of his lapse of concentration, bit down hard on the paw holding him down before thrashing and knocking the purple dragon away. Spyro winced and stumbled back before noticing that the dragon was again preparing another shot with his element aimed directly at his chest.
The purple dragon's face twisted into a feral snarl, having had enough and as the dragon released his beam, an earth wall erupted forth from the ground in front of his face.
A muffled bang echoed through the trees and shook the canopy, releasing a cascade of berries and nuts while Spyro and Cynder both instinctively shielded their faces with their tough wings as they were peppered with pebbles and dirt.
When the dust cleared, Spyro grimaced and rushed to the still form of the dragon, hoping desperately that he hadn't just accidental kill him before breathing out a sigh of relief as he saw the dragon's flanks still moving up and down. He was just knocked out cold.
The purple dragon proceeded to turn towards Cynder and darted to her side, frowning at the sight of her burnt chest and wings, two splatters of ash against a backdrop of radiant magenta.
"Are you okay?" He asked softly with worry clear in his voice.
"Yeah, just got caught by surprise." She grunted before mock glaring at him. "And just where were you this whole time?"
"Having a coughing fit," he replied snarkily. "I did say I was pretty worn, but at least I made it here on time to save your sorry butt."
Cynder narrowed her eyes at his words. "And I thought I was the rude and snide one."
Spyro forcibly guided her into a sitting position as he inspected her injuries, which had already begun to drop in intensity. "Well, maybe you're just a bad influence?" He said as he took a paw and gently brushed away the burn marks. Thankfully, it appeared that the dragon also had a depleted mana pool, most likely from trying to drive off the monster.
"Who, me?" She purposely changed her tone to a more playful one and batted her eyes innocently. "Is my knight in purple armor accusing me of such evil?" She whisked her tail and turned to face away from him, smirking as she watched his face contort in confusion in the corner of her eye.
"W-what?"
She sigh swiveled her head back around and gently tapped Spyro's chin with a claw, moving his gaze to meet hers. "Relax, I'm kidding… we both know that I'd be the fearsome knight."
Spyro put on an exaggerated expression of disbelief. "You? Aren't you a bit too pretty to be a gritty and worn knight?"
This time it was Cynder's turn to be taken aback. Pretty? The purple dragon normally wasn't this outgoing with his praise. Then again, hearing that compliment from him did send a creeping trickle of warmth down her spine.
"Frogweed got your tongue?" Spyro's voice knocked her out of her stupor and she sputtered out a response. "Of course not!" She huffed and glared at him. "And let's not forget who cleaned the floor with you during training."
"Last time I checked, that was only without elements."
"So?" She giggled and flashed her deadly claws. "I'd still expect more from the purple dragon of legend.
Spyro rolled his eyes as . The dragon they had knocked out seemed to be slowly regaining consciousness.
"Let's find some shelter nearby, then we can see what he knows." He cocked his head towards the limp form before gesturing for Cynder to help lift him onto his back.
He stopped to stare at the pure white scales of the dragon. "You know anything about his element?" He asked Cynder, who shook her head.
"It's hot, like fire, but isn't quite the same. We can ask him more about it later. For now, let's just get him restrained before he plays kill the Cynder again."
"Right, that seems good, I wonder what beef he has with you." They hefted the dragon onto Spyro's back and - after adjusting him to make sure he didn't fall off as they walked – they set off searching for anything that could be used as a temporary haven from any dangers lurking in the jungle around them.
"Probably something I did as the Terror of the Skies no doubt, though I don't remember ever seeing a dragon like him before." Cynder muttered.
"Come to think of it, I also don't remember seeing any cloud forests anywhere remotely close to Warfang, do you?"
Spyro frowned and tried to picture the giant map within the Guardian's chambers before shaking his head.
"No, I don't think so."
"Then home must be very, very far away." Cynder muttered, slightly disheartened.
"So very, very far away..."
"So very, very far away from home..."
He was so very, very far away from home…
Oh, if the others saw him now he'd surely become the ridicule of the entire city, more defenseless dormouse than deadly, dangerous dragon.
"Ancestors please, if I get out of this alive, I promise to never speak ill to my mother or father ever again." Was it tears or mud that stained his face? The brief thought of wiping it clean came to mind. How embarrassing would it be to be found dead with the stricken face of fear casted onto him? If any part of me remains...
Trees toppled behind him. His pursuer was gaining.
"I going to live…" He wasn't ready to die… especially not to some foul creature." This isn't fair! We're supposed to be on the top of the food chain!
"How had this happened? Of all the dragons why him? Why was it him who just had to luck out and wander into the sights of a hunting fellbeast? Why was he who was unlucky enough to have been injured on the wing and rendered naught more than a flightless light-breathing lizard?"
He winced and sputtered out a shaky whimper in as his injured wing scratched against a low-hanging branch.
Where was everyone? had no one seen himseparate from the rest of the patrol?
"I should cry for help, someone must hear me, right?" He opened my jaws and let out a muffled squeak before quickly shutting it, gritting his teeth. "No, to die was better than to live without honor. Without honor, there was nothing to a name… and without a name, there was nothing to him."
Loud crashing to the left caused him to instinctively duck as a massive creature leaped from the woods, snarling and snapping its deadly jaws at the smaller dragon as he ducked and weaved around the flailing talons.
"Cover, I must find cover if I wish to survive."
There, a thicket of thorny bushes, large enough to hide in, but not large enough for the beast in hot pursuit to fit in as well. He dove under the branches and yelped as thorns dug under his scales but despite the pain, he forced himself to crawl deeper as the fellbeast swiped at him. Even as thorns dug deeper and his already damaged wing was lacerated even more, he kept crawling. Twin jaws snapped audibly shut before pulling back with a pained howl.
Once he was in the midst of the thicket, he shut his eyes and tried to steady his breath, even as the fellbeast tore at his shelter.
"Please… just leave…"
"I'm not ready to die."
"I'm not ready to die…"
Why did he agree to join the patrol?
"Alright Corin, I need you to think very carefully about this…" his father, another white-scaled dragon told him, his booming voice echoed in the ornate chamber.
"I already have Father." He replied without hesitation, "I refuse to let that madman make cowards out of the family name… He insulted me but worse, he insulted my honor." He bowed while his father merely sighed and rubbed his eyes, turning to stare out the window at the great city beyond. It was a full thirty seconds before he spoke again.
"I suppose that neither of us have much of a choice in this matter… you will go with the patrol… That barbaric, duplicitous, shameful excuse of a dragon, never have we seen eye to bruised and bloodied eye but to take our bad blood and spill it unto our children?" His voice dropped to an angry growl.
Corin nodded and said, "I will be careful father, and I will prove him wrong." before turning and walking towards the door of their home. He was born a Warrior, a dragon whose legacy will live on in books and legendary stories told from generation to generation. His name was not to become one worth forgetting, and he certainly refused to become a name worthy of ridicule.
Still though… the thought of running into a Devourer sent shivers down his spine. The images of shadowy otherworldly creatures with haunting, glowing red eyes… the beasts who - if left unchecked - will devour every last light from this world for it is in their nature, as creatures born of shadows.
He shook my head before any more wandering thoughts tore at his courage.
"I, Corin Evanstar, will defend my family name, and if that means proving that I am not just some stuck-up, spoiled-to-the-core high born, then I will gladly fight, and I will win." He smirked and glared at the distant city walls. Past them, Devourers lurked and it would be him to protect the light from their insatiable hunger.
It would be his glory to claim.
All of it.
His eyes shot open again as the sounds of a hungry fellbeast abruptly stopped and a moment later, the cracks of it retreating back into the forest drew him out of hiding. With utmost caution, he poked his head out and scanned the surroundings, making sure that the beast was truly gone, that he-
"Uh, hello?" His head spun around so quickly that a jolt of pain seared his neck, but what he saw caused his breath to catch in his throat. A dragoness with scales as dark as night and eyes a fading red. A Demon in disguise! He gasped and charged up a measly light bolt as it stepped closer, raising a paw and displaying its wickedly sharp talons. One step closer and he released the bolt, knowing that it would cause nothing more than a distraction as he dragged himself out of the brambles and dashed into the forest. Behind him, he heard the Devourer howl and chase after him and he urged his legs to carry him further, but they were already burning from the previous chase.
Dense foliage broke into the pebbly shore of the Silver River as he stumbled through, gasping for breath. He had barely a second before his adversary clawed through the undergrowth and he spun around to face her, realizing that he would have to fight. If he wanted to live, he needed to fight.