Well here is chapter 2, I hope you enjoy it.
"What are you doing here, Sorcerer?!" Cynder spat, still trying to turn her head to look at him but it was no use, he was remaining behind her to avoid being seen. He laughed at her struggles, the sound chilling Cynder's blood as she realised that she was truly at his mercy, which she doubted would be forthcoming.
"I'm here for the purple dragon, and you of course, although I must admit, I wasn't expecting to see you here." Cynder heard the sound of movement and The Sorcerer stepped into view, his gloved hand resting upon the crystal between Spyro's horns. "I had thought that you were dead, after what happened at convexity. But obviously I did not witness what had occurred there, only that you had recovered the powers needed to free our master and then did not return to your castle."
"He is not our master, he is yours, and he must be stopped." Cynder argued.
"On the contrary, my dear Cynder, he is in fact the master of us all, and it is far too late to stop him. He was released on The Night of Eternal Darkness where Gaul was bested by this pitiful dragon," he said as he stroked Spyro's protruding horns, "and ever since then he has tasked me, his last remaining servant, with releasing you from this…'interesting' crystal."
"And why does he want you to do that, he can't honestly hope that I will still join him?" Cynder asked sceptically.
"Actually he does. He has the utmost faith in you, Cynder, something which I don't really understand but who am I to question. He has confidence that you will return to his side when you see him, in fact, he almost guarantees it. And when you do he will order you to exact the punishment upon this generation's purple dragon, something which I am sure you will relish."
Cynder's eyes grew wide. "I would never do that, even if I did return to him, something of myself as I am now would remain, at least enough to prevent me from hurting Spyro." This little outburst seemed to amuse The Sorcerer as he tapped his finger against the tip of Spyro's left horn.
"And what makes you so sure of that?" He asked. Cynder did not answer, she only stared at him with defiant eyes. The Sorcerer lowered his hand down the horn and then gripped it, confusing Cynder. "You, Cynder, are needed, this, Spyro, as you have named him, is not. As such I believe it is necessary to make him less of a threat so that he will be more…manageable." His grip then began to tighten and Cynder's pupils contracted as she realise what he was doing.
"No, stop!" She cried out as the sound of cracking could be heard. She thrashed her head about trying to do something but she was helpless. "I said stop it!" She cried out again, her eyes starting to leak tears. The cracking grew louder and The Sorcerer began to laugh at Cynder's pain. Finally after a few more agonizing moments for Cynder a loud and sickening snap was heard and Cynder roared at the horn now held in The Sorcerer's hand. "I'll kill you!" The distraught Cynder shouted, her eyes blazing with rage and wet with tears.
The Sorcerer only ignored her as he stared at the horn. "It's amazing isn't it." he said as he held the bloody end of the horn out in front of Cynder, who recoiled at the site. "Your horns have absolutely no feeling in them, yet they have a blood supply, albeit a small one. That must be how they grow I suppose, something must carry the material needed for them." He looked at Cynder, who was sobbing quietly. He placed the horn on the crystal in front of her, forcing her to look at it, until she closed her eyes. "I didn't expect this much of a reaction from you, a little bit of anger, sure, but not outright sorrow.
"That is why you think you wouldn't hurt him," He suddenly said as he made the realisation, "You have feelings for him, don't you?" Cynder refused to comment, but the fresh tear that slid from between her scaly eyelids and down her snout said more than she ever could. The Sorcerer laughed. "You do! Why Cynder, I didn't know you were capable of such feelings."
"I will never rejoin Malefor!" Cynder suddenly shouted.
"You will refer to him as 'Master'," The Sorcerer, replied, his voice suddenly gravely serious, "And willingly or not, you will join him, and when you do you will be tasked with destroying the object of your affections. Your feelings for him may conflict for a time, but they will always be pushed aside by the darker side of you, love has little power under the Dark Master's influence."
Cynder did not reply, she knew that he was wrong, or at least she hoped she did. The Sorcerer picked up the orange horn and held it close to Cynder. "There was once a time when you rejoiced at the sight of your enemies blood, you will learn to do so again." He said as he dabbed the bloodied end against Cynder's cheek. She hissed at him and a few more tears escaped her before he removed the horn, leaving a patch of blood upon her scales. "I believe I'll keep this, powdered dragon horns can be extremely useful in all manners of magic and potions." He then pocketed Spyro's horn in one of the many folds of his robe before sauntering off, leaving Cynder alone in the dark cave.
She looked at Spyro, now missing his left horn and the one that would have been closest to her. He still had the same look on his face and Cynder doubted that he knew what had happened, or if he even felt it. There was still an inch of his horn left behind, however, it had snapped away from the crystal. This meant that there wasn't much blood like there would have been if it had been ripped from his scales, most likely tearing them too. As she looked at the small trickle of red liquid pooling around the crack she could feel the same substance on her cheek. She wanted to get it off but she had no intention of licking it away, which was her only option at that moment. She considered what to do next, and seeing that there was no point in avoiding it or doing anything else she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.
--
The sound of scraping and chiselling woke Cynder a few hours later. The sound grated against her ears and she opened her eyes to glare at whatever was making the noise. As it was unpreventable she saw Spyro first, his broken horn now scabbed over. The next thing she noticed was the two apes chipping away at the crystal around him. Cynder growled quietly to herself. Asking them to stop would be futile, and she certainly didn't want to start a conversation with one of them. So she resigned herself to the inevitable boredom she would now be forced to experience.
She glanced around the small area she could view with her limited movement. The crystal she was in seemed to be embedded in a wall, the top of it chiselled away so the apes could stand within the hollow to work on the crystal. Outside within the darker cavern Cynder could see barely anything noteworthy, except for the small amount of light that shone in from wherever The Sorcerer had forced his way into the mountain. The chamber that Cynder remembered was barely recognisable, however. The cave-in had changed the layout of the room substantially and she could not see any of the fine stone work, however twisted it may have been, adorning the floor or any of the walls. The statues were long since reduced to rumble and any pots, ceramics or stone carvings had been crushed. The cave looked like any other cave, nothing special about it whatsoever, apart from the crystal and the history that is.
The apes had removed several large chips from around Spyro's head, revealing purple scales here and there. They removed larger pieces first and the took greater care when chiselling close to Spyro's body, careful not to chip a piece of his flesh away. Cynder found herself thinking that she could do a much careful job extracting Spyro from the crystal, she was quite talented with her tail. She also wanted nothing more than to kill the apes, take the gems that they left behind and then escape with Spyro before The Sorcerer even knew what had happened.
She was contemplating these thoughts when she felt a hand place itself on her head. She jerked away from it but it took a firmer grip, holding her head in place. Then she heard the sound of rustling as someone removed something from their robe, cloak, coat, whatever. Then the sound of chiselling grew louder as the crystal around her neck began to be removed. She could feel the vibrations pass through the mineral and into her body, providing her with a strangely soothing feeling, yet at the same time slightly painful.
The very top of Spyro's head had now been broken free, his brow twitching as it tried to relax from its position but incapable of doing so due to his facial muscles below still trapped. Cynder was looking forward to his awakening, she was growing bored and also needed someone to talk to in order to concoct a plan of escape.
Unfortunately for her the entire process was taking some time. The apes were not as efficient as she would have hoped they were and after an hour they had only managed to get Spyro's head free down to the top of his snout. She, however, had a good few inches more of her neck free, allowing her more movement and a greater field of vision. The apes had stopped working on her though, so she was still stuck for how ever long the Sorcerer wanted.
Spyro's face had relaxed though, he no longer had the concentrated look that it had been fixed in. Cynder gazed at his purple scales and the power that each one of them contained. He does have a certain…appeal. She thought, before quickly shaking her head. No, I can't start thinking like that, it would only complicate things.
Another hour passed and the apes finally picked up their tools and left. Spyro had the same amount of his body free as Cynder had, almost exactly the same, give or take an inch. His head rested limply against his neck now that there was nothing to support it and he looked like he had just been sleeping through the whole ordeal. Cynder watched the apes' reflections in the crystal and as soon as they had left she began to wake up Spyro.
"Spyro, Spyro, come on, wake up." She began, wishing she had another part of her body free so that she could poke him to increase her waking power. He didn't even respond to her, it was if he was still trapped within the crystal, unaware of the world around him. "Spyro, this is no time to be sleeping, wake up." She said a little louder. Still no response. She sighed, figuring that he would only wake when he was ready, it must have taken a lot out of him to put them in that crystal.
As she looked at his sleeping form she realised that he looked different. She shifted her head to the side to gain a better perspective, trying to figure out what it was. She thought he looked older somehow. His face had lost that childish muzzle, it had grown more refined and muscular. His brow had also grown slightly, making his eyes appear smaller. All in all he looked more mature, closer to adolescence than hatchling, a lot closer. She contemplated this and then realised she was staring and looked away with a blush. Wait, why am I blushing? There's no one else here. She thought as her face returned to normal. Seeing nothing better to do she took one last look at Spyro and then went back to sleep.
--
A low rumbling sound entered Spyro's mind as he began to regain consciousness. He couldn't quite place what it was but it sounded close. He opened his eyes when the noise got his curiosity going and then he remembered what had happened. He quickly tried to look around but found his movement restricted. Looking down he found that he was still trapped with the crystal that he somehow made. He could see an entrance into the cavern that they were in a small ways away and light poured in from it. He couldn't see anything of interest beyond it, however, so he brought his attention back into the room and the sound that had woken him.
It was coming from his left and as he turned towards it he saw the sleeping form of Cynder, her head resting limply against the crystal in front of her. She was snoring, much to Spyro's amusement, and the small trickle of drool that seeped out of her ajar mouth amused him even more. As he looked upon her he noticed that her snout had become longer, thinner too. Her horns had grown out and her entire face had become more angled. She looked older to him, a more mature dragon, and he liked the change in her appearance. He quickly shook his head, removing those thoughts from his mind and then decided it was time to wake her.
"Cynder, wake up." He simply said. She snorted slightly, making Spyro grin and then fluttered her eyes open.
The first thing she noticed was Spyro grinning at her, she then noticed that the side of her snout was wet and realised she must have been drooling. She blushed as she tried to lick it away and then blushed even more so when Spyro laughed. "Oh, stop laughing, I only fell asleep because I got tired of waiting for you to wake up." She said with a small sense of embarrassment.
"You were snoring too." He replied, much to her chagrin.
"I was not!" She challenged, her face growing even more red.
"That's what woke me up," He answered with a small chuckle but then noticed her cheek, "Are you hurt, whose blood is that?" He asked. She lowered her head to and looked away. "Tell me, Cynder." Spyro said.
"It's not my blood, Spyro, it's yours." She answered, which confused him, he didn't feel hurt. "You left horn is broken." She continued.
"My what…" He said as he tried to do something to see if it was still there. He shook his head trying to feel the familiar feeling of his horns cutting through the air, it did feel a little different to him but he couldn't be sure. "How did that happen?" He asked.
Cynder was about to answer when a voice cut in front of her. "I ripped it off, of course." Spyro looked at the entrance and the shrouded figure that entered the cavern. "And I thank you for it, I have many uses for this." He continued, pulling the horn out from within his cloak and brandishing it for Spyro to see.
"Who are you?" Spyro asked, a small growl escaping from within, the sheer anger at having his body violated brimming under the surface.
"Has my dear friend Cynder not informed you? How very odd." He replied, taking a glance at Cynder who glared back at him. "Obviously not, well you see, Spyro, I am here to ensure that you do not interfere with our master's plans."
"Our master?" Spyro questioned. "How many of you are there?"
"Why just the two, of course, myself and Cynder, you killed Gaul, remember?" He replied, placing his hand upon Cynder's head between her horns. She tried to bite him but he pressed down firmly and prevented her from getting her jaws at the right angle.
"Cynder doesn't have a master anymore." Spyro said defiantly.
"Of course she does, Spyro. As soon as she sees the dark master again she will bow before him and embrace her duties as his general, killing you as her first command." Cynder shook her head free at that point and snapped at The Sorcerer's hand, who pulled it away just in time.
"I will never rejoin him and I won't hurt Spyro!" She shouted, causing The Sorcerer to laugh.
"You still think you have a choice? You have nowhere to go, either of you, and when I'm done you won't be able to go separate ways either, which will limit your chances of escape even further." He said and then reached into his cloak and pulled out two sickly, green collars.
Spyro and Cynder were wondering what exactly they were when The Sorcerer began to chant. As soon as he was done the glow intensified and he dropped the collars on the crystal in-between the two dragons. They writhed about and began to shift, taking on forms that almost looked like snakes. Then they began to move away from each other, one of each making its way to one of the dragons.
The Sorcerer laughed as Spyro and Cynder tried to move their heads away from the snakes but with nowhere for them to go it was pointless. Spyro cried out as he felt the collar begin to wrap around his neck. One end of it formed the mouth of a snake and bit down on the other end as if it was biting its tail. The same occurred with Cynder, and when both were in place a burst of green light shot between the two, connecting them at the neck until it faded, the collars seemingly fading into the dragons' bodies.
"What was that?" Cynder asked, feeling slightly frightened.
"Just a little something to make you more easy to watch. You see those make it so that you two can't get very far without the other, perhaps a few meters at most." He replied, making Spyro and Cynder gasp. "That way even if one of you escape you physically can't get very far, and even if you do both escape if we find one of you we find the other, it's as simple as that."
"We'll just have to escape together then, not that we would leave without the other anyway." Spyro said, still determined to be defiant.
"Oh I'm sure you'll try, which is why every time you do I will lessen the distance you two can be separated. If I felt like it I could have it so that you couldn't even move your necks from each other, which would be easier for me but I don't think you two would enjoy it much." He retorted, making Spyro close his mouth. "I thought so, now we can get you completely out of that crystal. Pretty soon, Cynder, we will have you back in service, and it seems you don't have to go through as much forced growth as you did before, but then again three years would do that to you wouldn't it." The Sorcerer then left, leaving the two gob smacked dragons alone.
"Three years!" Spyro exclaimed, thoroughly shocked at the revelation.
"No wonder you look older." Cynder replied as shocked as him.
"I'm not the only one." He said, looking at her again. She met his gaze and then felt a blush arise to her face. She looked away quickly, confusing Spyro.
What's wrong with me? She asked herself.
Please review. I was questioning the wisdom of posting this story so close to the release of the new game, but I had forgotten that the game comes out in October in America and November here in England, I though I would have had more time. Hopefully though you will still stay with the story, I don't want to have to stop because people will know how the third game ends and think this story pointless.