Chapter 2: A trip to the Moray Mines
Spyro and Cynder decided not to fly that day because the dampness of the rainforest was affecting their flight so they continued through the forest on foot. It was steaming as the afternoon sun rose to the middle of the sky. The two dragons panted and felt tired quickly because of the heat.
"Spyro, I'm feeling hot. Maybe we should stop for a while," Cynder said tiredly.
"We can't, we've stopped for 5 times already. We have to endure it," Spyro said. "Just hang on."
"Spyro…I-I…" Cynder continued but he suddenly fainted due to the heat.
Spyro stopped to help her up. The Great River was just nearby so he dragged her to the river and soaked her in the cool waters. The current was kind enough and the depth was shallow enough so he and Cynder entered the river for an afternoon dip. While Cynder was still unconscious, Spyro took the chance to relax a bit. He laid his head onto the sloping river bank and stared at the cliff opposite of the river.
"Wow, the heat is just unnatural. It must be like 40 degrees. It was never like that in the past," Spyro said to himself.
He took a sip of water and looked at Cynder. Maybe she needs a drink as well but how to get her to drink when she is out cold? He suddenly thought of an embarrassing idea on how to give her a drink of water.
He scooped up some water into his mouth and went towards Cynder. He went close and connected his lips to hers, closing his eyes and hoping Cynder doesn't wake up. However, Spyro fed the water into her mouth too fast and she choked on it and Cynder woke up with a startle, coughing out the water that went into her throat.
"Spyro, what were you doing?!" Cynder asked angrily while coughing at the same time.
"I-I'm sorry Cynder, you looked thirsty so I thought I'd give you a drink of water," Spyro said apologetically.
Cynder coughed a bit and wiped her mouth.
"It's okay, thank you for being concerned. So, where are we?" she asked while looking around.
"We're still in the forest. It might take us another day or two to reach the Epicenter according to the distance calculated and estimated by the dragon elders," Spyro explained.
Cynder shook her head.
"Too long; by the time we reach there, who knows how strong the undeads have grown. We have to hasten our pace," Cynder said. "Is there any other way we can reach there quickly?" Cynder asked Spyro.
Spyro consulted his map and tapped it. He then pointed towards the picture of a mountain that had a hole at its base.
"There is a way…but it's a rather perilous road. The elders said that if we are to reach the Epicenter quickly, we should use the Moray Mines but according to Cyril, the mines are reputed to be inhabited by an ancient beast that roams the great halls. Cyril doesn't encourage us to use it," Spyro cautioned Cynder.
"Other alternatives?" Cynder asked hopefully but Spyro shook his head.
"Damn, I guess we're limited to proceeding through the forest or risking our lives in the Moray Mines," Cynder muttered.
Suddenly, they heard rapid footsteps coming towards them. Before Spyro turned to see what it was, a skeleton boar burst from the bushes and head butted Spyro into the river. Its melancholic red eyes than turned towards Cynder. She did not move but the boar inched towards her slowly, letting out a low screech.
Spyro leapt out of the river and clawed the boar. The boar evaded the clawing attack and bit Spyro's neck.
"Argh, let go of me!" Spyro cried out in pain.
Cynder let out a breath of poison towards the boar but it didn't seem to have any effect on the beast. She tried other breaths but the boar would just sink its teeth deeper into Spyro's neck. Finally, she went towards the boar and attacked it with her claws. Cynder disintegrated the boar into a pile of bones. The entire skeleton became dust and was blown away by the wind. Cynder thought she caught the sight of an apparition of a blue spirit but when she blinked, it was gone. Cynder then turned her attention to Spyro.
"Spyro, are you hurt?" she asked with concern.
"That thing bit me…I'm a little hurt but I'll be fine," Spyro said.
Blood flowed out from the bite wounds but Cynder found some blood-staunching herbs nearby. She chewed it into bits and applied it onto Spyro's wounds.
"It's a good thing I took up nature classes from the cheetahs," Cynder said.
Minutes later, the blood flow from the wounds stopped and Cynder applied some bandages she brought along onto Spyro's neck.
"Feeling better?" she asked.
"Yeah, thanks to you," Spyro said.
"What was that all about?" Cynder asked.
"I'm not sure but I thought I recognized that skeleton boar somewhere," Spyro muttered.
"Weren't we eating one this morning and we left its skeleton back there?" Cynder asked again.
"Yeah but how can we be sure if it's really the one we ate?" Spyro asked.
"I left some bite marks on its left thighbone and I saw the exact marks on the boar that attacked us," Cynder said with a shiver.
"I was told of the dead coming to life but I never thought we would encounter one so soon," Spyro replied.
They looked at each other with some sense of dread.
"Maybe the elders were right to send us on a mission like this. The situation is really getting bad," Spyro muttered.
"We should make haste," Cynder continued.
Before they made a move, they heard heavy footsteps and angry screeches and grunts coming from the forest. It was behind them.
"Doesn't sound very welcoming. C'mon, lets get out of here," Cynder said.
The two dragons ran as quickly as they could. Just as Spyro cleared a group of trees, an arrow flew past his head by inches. It nearly hit Cynder but she evaded it when Spyro called her to move aside. With Cynder in front, Spyro was more vulnerable to attacks from the back. He heard the screeches getting louder followed by more black-tipped arrows.
Turning his head around, he saw an army of skeleton warriors trailing them, waving their swords at them and aiming their bows at them with arrows ready to be fired. They were slower but they certainly looked menacing. They wore broken chainmail and half plate armor and heavy metal boots. By the look of their skeletons, they certainly weren't undead cheetahs or dragons. They didn't look like any race Spyro was familiar with.
One of them had a funny-looking weapon with a long muzzle. However when it fired a shot at Spyro, Spyro couldn't see any projectile. All he saw was a flash of light and a loud boom. The shot missed and hit a small tree he ran past earlier, splintering it.
"What are these things?" Cynder asked in panic.
"I'm don't know and I've never seen anything like them before. We better lose them!" Spyro replied.
They cleared the forest but they reached a cliff and the bridge that connected to the other side was ruined. They flew across it but when Spyro looked back, he saw flying creatures flying above the forest trees…heading towards them.
They had riders on them and the creatures looked like birds and they had black flames on their bodies. It trailed as they flew.
"By the ancestors…Hunter was right, they are relentless," Spyro said.
The distance to the opposite cliff was quite far. If they fell, it would be a 900 meter drop to the river below. They were careful not to fly too close to the waterfall because the suction it creates might pull them towards the cascading waters.
"Cynder, hold my paw!" Spyro called out.
Cynder nodded and slowed down. Once they were in reach, they held their paws together and flew in unison. The skeleton warriors can't get them since they were in the sky but the riders were. Not only do they have ranged weapons, some were sorcerers. They launched dozens of magic attacks at them but the two dragons deftly avoided the attacks. Spyro turned around and launched a fireball towards the closest rider. The fireball caught it in the chest and knocked it off the undead bird it was riding on. The bird however waved a wing at Spyro and Cynder and threw a black ball of fire at them.
It hit Cynder and she gritted her teeth in pain. For a while she lost control but because she was holding Spyro's paw, he helped stabilize her and got her to fly. Cynder turned around and launched a wind attack at the trailing bird. The gust knocked it off balance and sent it plunging down into the river. It let out a long screech as it fell to its demise.
"Cynder, are you okay?" Spyro asked aloud.
"Yeah, besides the burns…I'm okay," she said with a forced smile while gritting her teeth in pain.
The two continued evading the attacks while heading for the opposite side. After 2 grueling minutes, the two finally landed at the opposite cliff. They sat down to catch a breath but the undead riders were still hot on their tail.
"What does it take to keep them away?!" Spyro asked in exasperation.
Cynder pulled Spyro's paw and led him into the forest. They ran too quickly and did not notice they were running towards a slope. When Cynder noticed though, it was too late. The two dragons tumbled down the slope and into a cave where they came to a grinding halt. Spyro got up slowly and wobbled about.
"I think I've just drank too much alcohol. The world seems to spin around," he said dizzily.
Cynder was also dizzy but she shook her head and tried to focus. Her multi-vision due to the dizziness dissolved and she noticed they were not in the forest anymore.
"Where are we?" Cynder asked.
Spyro shook his head and looked around him. He consulted his map again and felt a chill run down his spine.
"The Moray Mines," he said softly.
Cynder stopped in her tracks. Beyond her was a great cavern with a bright orange glow. Mine paths crisscrossed from one entrance to the other and the depth of the Moray Mines were very deep, so deep that the orange glow couldn't reach to the bottom. The walls of the mine were full of orange crystals, similar to the crystals they used for power.
"Spyro, look at this sight," Cynder said, mesmerized by the glow.
Spyro came to her side and gave a low whistle.
"Wow, this is just mesmerizing. Do you think the moles mined here?" Spyro asked.
"I doubt it Spyro. I don't think the moles have any use for the crystals. Whoever dug here, they not only know their machinery well, they are also rather advanced," Cynder said.
Spyro noticed metallic machineries located on some platforms and they seemed to be used for mining. They had drills and metal wheels and even a steam-powered engine. They didn't seem really operational and the rust on the machines confirmed that. The moles used coal-fired machines but steam-powered machines were something he never seen before. Spyro also noted some kind of weapon lying on the floor. It had a long muzzle and it was made of wood. It was rather heavy.
"C'mon Spyro, lets not waste time. We better find a way out since we're here," Cynder said.
The two explored the mines and were careful not to fall into the depths below. Following his instincts, Spyro led Cynder to a chamber at the top-most floor opposite a large crystal cluster. They followed the tracks to another large hall, this time it looked like the interior of a cathedral but it was so large that they couldn't see any end to it.
"Whoever built this place must love all things big. First a big mine now a big hall," Cynder quipped. She noticed some pictures of an unfamiliar creature fighting a dragon that looked like Malefor. The creature looked aggressive and he had a sword in his hand, ready for a stab at Malefor.
"This is just interesting. It seems like this species hated Malefor as well," Cynder continued.
"That's odd, we were never told of such a species before nor have we seen any," Spyro said inquisitively.
"That is because they are all dead," someone said.
The two dragons turned around in startle and saw a cheetah emerging from the darkness. He had a bow in his hand and he seemed bloodied up.
"Who are you?" Cynder asked cautiously.
"I am Von Katz, a subordinate of Chief Prowlus. I am one of the lost scouts that were sent to check on the Epicenter," the feline said.
"I thought everyone died. How'd you survive?" Spyro asked.
"Long story and I have no time to relate my 'adventures' to you. As of now, the undead are still after me," Katz said so softly that it was close to a whisper.
Suddenly, they heard screeches and sounds of heavy footsteps.
"Go, leave them to us," Spyro said to the feline.
Katz was reluctant but Spyro insisted on it.
"Very well, I'll go back to Avalar and inform the chief. May the ancestors watch over you," he said and turned around to leave.
Beyond the darkness, the two dragons caught the sight of some skeleton warriors. They waved their swords at them and rushed at the. Spyro leapt at the closest warrior and hit its head off. He then burned the bones into black carbon. Cynder whacked the next skeleton and turned it into a pile of bones. Without touching the ground after her air attack, she flew towards the next warrior and whacked it so hard that she propelled it into other warriors, turning them into a pile of bones.
Spyro grabbed a warrior by the neck and spun around. He then let go of it like a hammer throw and sent it flying into a hole in the floor. After a few minutes of battle, the two finally got rid of the undead warriors. All the bones turned into ashes and blue spirits came out from the pile of ashes before rising up into the heavens.
"They weren't that tough after all," Cynder said.
"No but they are dangerous in large numbers. I think we better continue before more of them find us," Spyro said to Cynder.
As they proceeded through the halls, they saw more and more pictures of the unfamiliar creatures slaying dragons and some were depicted as heroes. One of them was called 'Baron Salvador' and he had knights armor and he had one leg on a slayed dragon with his sword in the chest of the dragon.
"They look like they are dragon slayers," Spyro said with a chill in his voice.
"I don't like that picture one bit," Cynder said in disgust.
Spyro was so busy with his thoughts that he didn't see where he was walking. He accidentally kicked a helmet into a hole. It fell into it and made loud clanking noises before splashing into a pool of water.
"Spyro," Cynder said with a scowl.
Suddenly, the whole place rumbled and became quiet. Cynder and Spyro then heard something behind them. Even though they can't see what it was, they noticed the entrance behind them had a moving red glow and it was becoming brighter every second.
"Spyro, I don't like this at all," Cynder said while holding close to Spyro. Spyro covered her with one of his wings and stared at the ever brightening glow.
"Whatever it is, we must defeat it," Spyro said in determination.
Suddenly, the whole entrance crumbled along with a large portion of the wall. What Spyro saw next gave him a great shock of his life. A gigantic monster with a fiery head peered through the broken wall. It looked like a dragon but yet it was so demonic-looking that it couldn't even be a dragon.
Its mouth had fire flares coming out of it and its eyes burned with a menacing red glow. It looked around the hall before locking its eyes on the two teenage dragons. It burst through the wall and stood up straight. It had to be a hundred feet tall and it brandished a fiery-tipped spear of lava rock.
"This is not good," Spyro said in fear.
I got this idea of a mine from Lord of the Rings. The monster is something like the Balrog but instead of a sword and whip, I gave it a spear. Keep the reviews coming so I can further improve the next chapter.