So, a few of you have been wondering if this story is different from my other ones due to it being rated 'M' and the genre being Romance and friendship. I can tell you now that this story is not going to have any sexual content. The rating is because I don't want to accidentally break any rules and the genre is because it will mainly be about Cynder and Spyro. There may be some adventure and fighting but that's just for the plot line and not what this story is about. Anyway, hope you guys enjoy this chapter.
Chapter 2: Guilt
"Why did you do it?" A voice echoed around her.
Cynder was in the dark, all alone while something kept mumbling the same question.
"Why did you do it?"
It didn't seem right to her, she was in a dark room and couldn't see anything. She tried to call upon her powers but they ignored her pleas.
"Why did you do it?"
The voice asked her again, and again she had no answer. It was getting rather frightening.
"Why did you do it?"
She couldn't stay silent anymore, "I don't know what I did."
"Why did you do it?"
"Who are you?"
"Why did you do it?"
"Where am I?"
"Why did you do it?"
"Leave me in peace, please." Cynder desperately implored.
The voice changed, it became deeper and angrier, "Not until you tell me, why did you do it?"
"I don't know, I don't know anymore."
A crack of light appeared before her, it widened as she stepped tentatively towards it. Like a shutter of a lamp, an object moved upwards from the seam of light and lit the room up in a cheery yellow light.
A dragon stood in front of her, a little older than herself. Looking at its horns and muscles, she guessed him to be a male. The light glinted off his orange scales like sunlight and his eyes had red irides that bored into her soul.
"You killed me, me and my whole family. You didn't need to, we were no threat to you or the apes, yet you hunted us down and butchered us."
A single tear hung down from his left eye as he remembered his dead family.
"I'm sorry but I don't know who you are."
"Of course you wouldn't, why would you take notice of four small dragons pleading for their lives as you swipe your claws at us?"
This upset her, why would she kill a dragon, especially a whole family, and she didn't like how he mentioned the apes either.
"Are you talking of when I was corrupted by Malefor?"
"I don't know if you were corrupted or not, and frankly I don't care. Hundreds of us you killed, personally or through commands."
"Please, I'm begging you, I was not myself then. I had no control over my actions, I would never want to hurt anyone."
"Begging didn't seem to do much for me or my family."
Tears began to roll down her cheeks, she didn't want to remember the past for it only brought back painful memories and the guilt she felt as she still lived while all the dragons she had killed didn't.
"I swear if I had the chance, an opportunity to swap places with any dragons I had killed in my time as a servant of the dark master, I would with no hesitation. You don't understand what it feels like to feel the guilt I feel for my past actions or to see the names of dragons who have died and still be alive. If I could do anything to compensate for the suffering I have caused to everyone, I would."
Cynder hung her head as the tears flowed endlessly down her face.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know how much pain you feel from this."
"Don't be, I deserve it. I don't deserve to be among the living and live a happy life, not when I have condemned so many to a worse fate."
The voice changed again, this time it was a voice she knew only too well.
"Cynder, wake up, we should be able to reach Warfang by today."
Cynder opened her eyes. Sunlight poured in like liquid gold from the mouth of the cave. Beside her, Spyro stood waiting for her to get ready. The excited stance and ready smile banished the remnants of her dream.
The air felt great beneath her wings as she flew lazily in the air. Spyro flew next to her, his wingtip inches from hers. The sun was on their backs and no clouds covered the sky.
It was a great day.
They flew all throughout the morning, communication was limited due to the wind snatching away any words they said. They landed in a glade close to a river. The sound of rushing water brought back fond memories of the valley of Avalar. They had escaped the ruins and flew out of a cave to be greeted by a splendid view, then the next day, she and Spyro had been able to cruise through the sky as they looked for Meadow.
Cynder looked at Spyro, by his vacant expression and the warm smile across his face, he seemed to be remembering the valley as well.
She walked over to him, her tail sliding listlessly behind her.
"Spyro, I don't regret it, not a single moment."
He blinked once before turning his gaze to her, "What do you mean?"
"I mean when we had that stupid chain around our necks. When we traversed across this world to fight Malefor. Every second we took, through pain and suffering, I don't regret."
"I agree, if I could do it all again, just to spend time with you, I would."
Her body tensed, her experiences in fighting had given her a trustworthy instinct. Right now, they were telling her that something wasn't right. Spyro also sensed it too and both of them went completely still, trying to work out what had alarmed them.
It suddenly came to her, it was quiet, too quiet. Before, birds had been happily chirping in the trees and creatures flitted through the undergrowth, now they were silent, something had startled them.
A sound, barely audible above the roaring of the river, rose higher and higher. It sounded familiar like she had heard it numerous times yet she didn't know what.
"No way, I thought these guys disappeared when Malefor did."
Then she knew, it was the sound of burrowing. With her realisation, the earth shifted slightly as something moved underneath it.
"Grublins?" She asked in disbelief.
"I'm afraid so, Cynder."
The ground erupted as a dozen Grublins poured out of the ground. She and Spyro got into a ready stance. They didn't attack though, instead, they zipped around in circles as the last Grublin came out of the hole. It moved in front of the assembled grublins, who had stopped moving about, and from it, a gurgly voice called out, "Hello dragons, we finally meet."
On the Grublins head was a circlet made of a strange green metal.
Spyro was the one to reply to the grublin, "Your master is dead, we killed him. Why are you guys still around?"
The sound of a drowning animal emanated from the grublin.
"He is only gone in flesh and blood, he still lives as a spirit. He talks to us in our dreams, tells us how we can serve him. By killing you, we shall complete our first task."
She had grown complacent during his speech and almost got overwhelmed by the swarm of grublins who suddenly attacked her. Beside her, Spyro levitated off the ground, a cyclone of snow and ice spun around him grabbing grublins out of the air and reducing them into smoke.
Five grublins ran at her, she spat several globs of poison at them and three turned to smoke. She dove into the ground while in shadow form and jumped out of the ground at one, catching it and throwing it towards a nearby tree. The last one approached her cautiously. She reached out and grabbed hold of it. She threw it up and caught it by its leg where she spun in circles and let go. The grublin hit the ground and promptly turned to smoke.
Spyro had finished off his lot of grublins and together she and Spyro stalked towards the lead grublin.
"Sorry," it called in its gurgly voice, "I have urgent matters to attend to."
It dove into the ground and burrowed away.
"Cynder, we need to get to warfang and tell the guardians about this, quickly."
"Yes, let's go."
With quick beats of her wings, Cynder sped off towards Warfang with Spyro right behind her.
Thank you for reading, reviews or feedback is greatly appreciated (like always) and I hope you did enjoy.
Here's some random rambling from me for no particular reason (kind of chapter summary?)
Basically, this chapter shows you the main antagonist and if you actually look back to this chapter at the end of the story, you may find a few references that would escape you as you are currently lacking in information.