Hello!

OK, I've just had an idea (well, I have lots of ideas, but I just seem to lose the will to write them…) – and it's about Cynder. To me, The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon failed epically because they made Cynder's scales dark-blue instead of grey-black. But what if that had some importance? What if Cynder was actually a blue dragon before she was corrupted?

In this story, The Rise of Cynder, it tells in detail of Cynder's early life – told in the point of view of Cynder herself and starting from even when she was just an egg.

It might be a bit boring at first because Cynder's in her egg, but it will most likely get better. Please enjoy!

Chapter 1

Silence.

Then screeches.

I curled up as tight as I could, my wings covering my face and ears and my tail wrapped protectively around me. The screeching – whatever it was – was scary, and I wanted to curl up safe inside my egg forever…or until it stopped, at least. But I couldn't, as I was roughly grabbed by something. I bashed against the hard, closed-in walls surrounding me – my first feeling of pain. And I was snatched up so quickly and carelessly that a small crack appeared in the egg, allowing a warm, golden light to seep through. It was my first light.

My senses flooded with so many different things – too many for me to guess or remember. The first thing I smelt was something yucky – I almost gagged at the stench – and it seemed to be coming from whatever was holding me. But beneath that, still, was a smell that was a little like my own…and with it came a crisp sort of smell that smelt a bit like the light that was filtering through the cracked wall. There was another smell, too – stronger than the scent that was like mine and the crispy smell, but weaker than the stench of the thing holding me. It was salty, and it was everywhere.

The other scents didn't smell like anything I knew until I left the place with the golden light. The light that shafted through the crack now was a silvery colour, and it made my tail-tip and wing-talons shine. And the smell had changed, too – instead of the warm, thick smell, I was hit by something thin and sharp. The smell was a bit like my own also, and it reminded me of a faint smell that I could detect in the golden-light-place. It made me curl up once more, and want to cover myself with my wings – but instead of wanting to cover my ears, I wanted to cover every scale on my body.

Another smell was quite strong – again, I had smelt something like it in the golden-light-place, and it seemed to be everywhere. I could scent it beneath me, over me, on my sides… And every time I was hit by something that blew into the crack in the wall, something that smelt a bit like the thin-sharp smell but with something else, I could hear a rustling and the scent grew stronger.

The last smell seemed to be mixed in with the blowing-stuff…and it was a little like the crisp-scent, but it seemed wilder somehow, uncontrollable. Like all the other scents, I could smell them in the golden-light-room.

I decided that I had had enough of smelling for now, and focused on hearing. I could hear voices, a lot like the screeches I had heard earlier, but they sounded fuzzy and distorted, and I could never quite make out what they were saying.

"…Master…"

"…Mountain…"

"…Egg…"

After a while of listening, I figured out that the one who was carrying me was called 'Gaul', the creatures that smelt disgusting were 'apes', and they were taking me to a place called 'Mountain' where somebody called 'Master' awaited. I wasn't sure what I was called, but they seemed to refer to me as the 'egg'.

That must be my name then – 'Egg'.

I began to get used to toppling around and banging against the walls. I stood on my hind legs, as high as the walls would let me, and peered out of the crack. Things seemed to form in front of me – some of the apes near the front and rear were carrying big sticks with something orange-coloured. It smelt crispy, and I knew that the scent I could smell was called 'fire'. Soon, we arrived at a place where a fortress stood. White things swirled around, and they smelt like the crisp, sharp scent I could smell. I knew that these things were called 'snow'. On the ground was something green, and beneath that something thick and brown, and I knew from the smell that this was called 'earth'. I could also smell the uncontrollable scent in the air, and it seemed to buzz around my head, crackling every time the cold stuff called 'wind' blew. I knew that it was called 'electricity'.

I liked the snow best.

But then a new scent loomed upon me. We were nearing something that smelt a bit like all of the scents – and beneath that, a scent deeper still. I didn't like this smell. It was dark and terrifying, and warned me to stay away. Go back! I screamed inside my head. It's bad here – bad, bad, bad! But the apes carried on, getting closer to the dark smell until they were surrounded in it, and now I could smell another scent that merged in with the dark one. It was dark yet tempting, and it seemed to draw you in, unlike the other smell that warned you to stay back. That must be why the apes are here, I thought. They like the strong smell. I called the bad smell 'darkness' and the tempting smell 'power'.

Gaul put me on something hard. It smelt a bit like 'earth', but it had a bit of 'darkness' in it too. Suddenly, the tempting scent of power changed to another smell. It seemed to be emitted by the apes! I could hear them bow down, and the other scent was raging now. It felt like some of them wanted to run away…and I can remember feeling it when I was awoken by the screeches. 'Fear'! I named the new smell. The apes were afraid of this place! But if that was so, why did they come here in the first place?

I peeped out of the crack again – maybe I could see the answer. I saw that I was in a dark place made of something greyish, a bit like the earth…stone? Fire burned in beacons around me, but instead of the warm smell and the orange light, this fire seemed to smell like darkness and it was green. In the centre of the place, a purple beam of light seemed to stretch from the ground all the way up to the roof. It reeked of darkness.

Suddenly, I heard pawsteps. I turned to face the creature that was making this noise, but I smelt him before I saw him. He smelt strongly of both darkness and power. Now I knew why the apes were bowing down and emitting such a strong smell – they were scared of this creature!

I thought that he was an ape at first, but when my fuzzy vision came into focus I saw that he didn't look like an ape at all, though he smelt a bit like one. Still, he smelt even more like me than an ape, but it was hard to tell beneath all the darkness and power. His amber eyes seemed to stare through the walls and gaze right at me, and as he approached, I shrunk back, producing the same smell of fear as the apes.

He came right up to me and looked down on me before turning to address Gaul. "Egg...hatch…" His voice was even more distorted than the apes', and it seemed to rumble with power. I looked through the crack at him, wondering why he said my name when he was talking to Gaul.

Gaul replied, "Soon…Master…"

Now I understood! This creature was 'Master'! Though his scales were purple, and you could hardly detect his true scent beneath the darkness and power, he smelt like me, so I figured that we must be the same species. I decided to call creatures like us 'dragons'.

As he made his way towards me again, my curiosity vanished and was replaced by fear. However, instead of cowering again, I decided to escape. The scent of darkness was overwhelming – it was bad, bad, bad! I need to get out of here! I thought, desperately scraping at the cold walls with my claws.

To my displeasure, his amber eyes seemed to glint with interest when he heard me scrape. "Egg…hatching…" he growled. His voice only made my desperation worse. Now I used my tail-tip to try and scratch my way out of the egg, and then added my wing-talons as well. The walls seemed to be made of stone like the place I was in, but the stone was much, much thinner.

I had nearly got out! The crack in the wall seemed to be widening as I scratched at it, and the green firelight shafted through. Just…a little…more…! I launched myself at where the crack was, my horns scratching the walls as I headbutted it. The egg cracked open, wide enough for me to clamber out. And I did so.

I was planning to run, but the transfixing amber gaze of the purple dragon kept me rigid on the stone platform. I gazed up at him, and for a heartbeat amber eyes met green ones.

And then the dragon raised his head, and when his voice rumbled again I realised that could understand it. "Welcome, Cynder."

Short, I know, but it's only just the beginning, and there's not much you can describe when you're in an egg.

Right… See that little button beneath this writing? There's a little button that says in green writing 'Review this Story/Chapter'. PRESS IT. I need your ideas about what's going to happen to Cynder in the next chapter and that, so please, if you have any ideas, tell me!

Thanks for reading!

~Scarlett