Blackness, an empty void of darkness that consumed all beings of light not letting anything in, this empty void stood all around her. That is all Cynder could see in her as she dreamt of a distant, past memory. Her body remained motionless as she listened to the faint dripping sound in the distance.
Drip,
Drip,
Drip,
A constant never, ending pattern which echoed in the blackened room of which she dreamed of. She was not fully aware of where she was, or what she was doing there. All she did was focus on the endless sound of a liquid falling.
Drip,
Drip,
Drip,
She wasn't sure how long she stood there: minutes, hours, days, years maybe? She wasn't sure. She could have spent an eternity there, and still not be aware. The only company was the dripping noise that ever so slowly drove her to insanity by its rhythmic pattern.
Drip,
Drip,
Drip,
She felt something beginning to pool around her feet, though she paid little attention to it as she stared into the empty void in front of her, her mind numb as the same noise began to drill into her ears. Like a hypnotic music, the noise never grew nor shrunk in sound, and never did it quicken or slowdown in pace. It seemed almost as if the steady dripping whispered to her, encouraging her to stay motionless.
Drip,
Drip,
Drip,
The liquid around her quickly began to rise, and soon it reached her chest, still rising quicker and quicker. She never moved, still focused on the sound in the distance. The liquid rose higher and higher, until it stopped just below her lower jaw. But she wasn't aware of this, still drawn by the other sound dripping down. There was a soft roar growing; at first it was soft and was nearly muted by the dripping, but over time it became louder as it came closer. Still the sounds of dripping could be heard, even when the roaring became deafening.
It was only then that Cynder noticed her predicament; it was too late by then. Quickly identifying the roaring was from a wave coming towards her, she had no time to react as she was swept up by it and forcefully thrown back into the liquid below. A metallic taste poured into her mouth as she opened her mouth in hopes for her lungs to be filled with air, only to be stuffed with the fluids.
Her lungs started to burn with their screams for oxygen. She tried to swim, only for each stroke of her arms and legs to pull her down deeper and deeper downwards till she lost consciousness.
Drip,
Drip,
Drip,
The sound awaked her from her unconscious state. Though still dreaming the scenery around her seemed all too familiar, but she could not recall where she had seen it from. An itch formed in the back of her mind as she tried to remember such memories.
She glanced downwards at her feet, however, instead of the black beautiful scales that she had known all of her life, she saw crusty crimson red staining them. Glanced around the rest of her body, she found that she was covered with the stale, dried, red blood.
A ray of light pooled in front of her, illuminating what hid in before her. She reeled back in terror as she heart sank, and her eyes dilated in fear. The memory of the area finally coming back to her, though she wished they never did. Before her, lying upon the ground with a deep cut across its throat, and a bloody paw near it, was an all too familiar friendly face of a full-grown female dragon. The source of the dripping sound was found and was revealed to be the blood that dripped down out of her open muzzle as the crimson liquid fell down into a pool of the vital fluid.
Terror consumed Cynder; she wanted to run, she wanted to look away from the one before her, but her body wouldn't listen to her demands and pleas. Tears started to stream down her face, and just when she thought her nightmare would never end, she woke up.
Cynder jolted awake, as she quickly sat up breathing heavily. She noticed the door to her room was open, and a large shadow was being cast into her room. Cynder's room, like most of her house, was simple and practical. She has a bed up against the top left side of her room, and beside that is a small little book case which is filled with books. Across from that is the bathroom, where she can freshen up. Lastly, besides the doors to the balcony, is a full mirror that allows her to check herself in the morning. Her door was normally closed, but tonight, it was open. The dim candle light from the hall, combined with the figure in the doorway, cast a large and long shadow upon her. After a second, she realized it was Terrador in the doorway, looking quite worried.
"Are you alright Cynder?" asked her father as he began to step into her room. "I was just stopping to see if you were asleep, and I heard the commotion." He made his way into her room and beside her bed. Cynder took some time to respond, taking a moment for her breathing to slow down.
"Sorry dad," She began. "I didn't mean to make you worry, and I'm fine, I just had a bad dream about… her."
Terrador instantly knew exactly who Cynder was talking about. He quickly extended his wings around her and embraced her with a hug. "I… I just miss her so much," said Cynder as tears formed in her eyes, burying her head into her father's chest. Normally, such dramatic shows of emotion were above her. But at this time, she didn't want to hold back tears.
"Shh, I know you do," Terrador spoke, his voice softer than usual. "I miss her too." Terrador said, trying to calm Cynder down. "I may not understand why your mother took her own life, but one thing that is for sure, is that she will always be with you." He craned his head down and gently nuzzled his daughter's head.
Cynder silently cringed as she heard this, cursing to herself mentally for her knowledge of the truth. The truth stung her and would cut her father to the bone; she stayed close to her father's comforting warmth till the pain in her heart and the knot in her throat slowly went away.
"Do you feel better now?" Terrador asked, as he pulled away from his daughter. Cynder nodded in response, using her paw to wipe away the tears. "Good, now why don't you get some more sleep? You seem tired." Terrador observed as he moved his daughter to her bed. Although she was still quite tall and old, Terrador had no problem moving her like a hatchling. She was quite tired though, and Cynder gladly took him up on the offer. She watched her father leave her room before closing her eyes, hoping for a calmer night.
Later on, in the day, after an 'exciting' day at school, Cynder was out and about with her friend Ember. They were wondering around the city, with no direction of where they are going, talking about Urlchen, and other days to come.
"Hey Ember, do you know if you or your father are doing anything this Urlchen?" asked Cynder. Ember pondered over this question for a short while before answering
"Nothing that I am aware of, we might go to celebration in the city square. Other than that, I think we are going to spend this holiday indoors. Why do you ask?" She replied as she recalled her family's plan.
"Well," Cynder began. "I was rather hoping that this year, all four of us could actually do something together for a change. Surely there has to be something that all of us could enjoy during the party," Cynder proposed
"Yeah well you know my father; he doesn't do to well in parties, or really anything that isn't a formal gathering," Cynder chuckled as she remembered some of the past times she had seen Ignitus during the previous Urlchen celebrations. So stiff and formal in the midst of such revelry. "None the less, I think it's high time you found someone else to go with you for a change," Ember said causing Cynder to cease her laughter.
"Now why would you say that? Don't you enjoy hanging out with me?" The black dragoness asked, frowning at the thought of one of her few friends no longer enjoying her company.
"It's not that I don't enjoy it," Ember began to explain. If one listened, they would find she had the voice of a politician trying to fix a delicate situation. "It's just that it's always just you and me," the pink dragoness stated while a small gloomy look on her face. "You might be my best friend, but I got other friends to; friends who you don't seem to like all that much. I still want to be around them. So, I think this year, I'm going to spend this Urlchen with them." Ember replied, hoping she had worded things as to not offend her lonely friend. Cynder, at that moment, fell into a slight depression.
"Oh," she said not sure what else to say. Ember noticed the sad look in her eye.
"Cynder, please don't look sad, you're making me feel bad." The pink dragoness pleated. "I still love you as much as any other best friend would, but you need to find more friends other than me. I'm doing this for you Cynder, trust me on that." Ember reassured. It was true; Ember could not name one of dragon that Cynder called 'friend' besides herself.
Cynder knew that Ember had her best interests at heart, but she didn't really want to find other friends. She was happy with the just the one.
"I don't know Ember, what if…"
"Hey where is the hot-headed, courageous Cynder that I used know?" Interrupted Ember. "I really missed talking to her." she said jokingly. Cynder smiled and playfully shoved her.
"Oh fine," Cynder finally relented. "I will see what I can do, I guess,"
"See? Now, was that so hard to say?" Ember asked with a snicker.
"Oh, hush you, no one wanted to-"
"Hey Cynder, care to help me with this," called out a familiar voice.
"You know I'm really getting tired of being interrupted," said Cynder to herself as she turned towards the direction of the voice, and saw Emory standing upon a ladder hanging up lamps along with other decorations around the area. "What do you want now Emory?" She asked, quite annoyed.
"Just wanted to know if you gals wanted to help me put up decoration for Urlchen. I am doing it for Bulsem," Emory said as he pointed towards an elderly yellow dragon, who was trying to put up some decorations on his own. Hearing his name, he turned around, and saw Emory talking to Ember and Cynder.
"Friends of yours?" the yellow dragon asked.
Cynder ignored their two as they began to chat a little, thinking if she should help them. She usually wouldn't mind helping the old dragon, but it's the fact that Emory was there that she didn't like. Ember must have noticed Cynder in deep though as she nudged her side, before saying in a low tone: "Come on Cynder. Let's help him out; it's not like we got anything better to do."
Cynder huffed a little. After a few moments of thought, she shrugged before calling out to the two males. "Hey mister Bulsem! Would you mind if we help out as well?"
"Why of course not, I would love the extra help. Just take some of these ornaments, and hang them around," the old dragon said as he pointed towards a couple of boxes on the ground, a smile growing across his face. He loved to see that this generation was just as generous as his own. Approaching them, Cynder and Ember began to pull out colorful lamps, different color streamers, wreaths, and other ornaments and started to hang them on all along the buildings.
"Hey thanks for helping us out, Cynder," Emory called out. "Oh, and you look really nice with those braces on,"
Ignoring his last comment, Cynder asked "So why are you helping Bulsem out?"
"I just like to help out is all; I was walking by when I saw him struggling to hang up a few things, so I offered my assistance." Emory stated, pausing mid-sentence as he placed an ornament in its proper place.
Cynder only nodded her head before getting back to work. She was interrupted when she felt something poke her side. Looking to her left, she saw Ember using her tail to point towards Emory. She then silently began to move her mouth, hoping Cynder could read her lips. Cynder didn't understand what she was trying to say and only shrugged. Ember groan before stepping very close to her and whispered to her.
"Ask him to Urlchen." Was her simple statement.
"I don't like him all that much. He keeps on trying to get me to go out with him." whined Cynder.
"So, what? He clearly is a nice guy; I see no reason for you to say no. Come on, just give it a try. If you don't have fun, then you can just tell him that you're not interested in him. It's as simple as that." Ember pushed.
"Fine." Cynder groaned. "But if I do, will you leave me alone about it?" Cynder asked, earning a nod from her friend. With a sigh, showing that she didn't want to do this, she turned around and walked towards Emory. She was stopped however as she noticed three muscular dragons walking their way. They were all average height, which was about a head, neck, and shoulders taller than Cynder. Bulsem noticed them as well, and approached them, hoping that they might be able to help as well. She doubted it; they had sandy colored scarves wrapped around their necks, as well as sandy colored wraps around all four paws. They were soldiers.
"Excuse me gentlemen, would you be so kind and help us out?" Bulsum asked kindly. But the dragons seemed to ignore the elder before them, instead looking around the area. That is when they noticed Cynder. One of the dragons leaned forward and whispered something to the dragon that was in front of him
"Colonel Terrador wishes his daughter to return to him." The lead dragon proclaimed, looking down at Cynder. "It is best we not keep him waiting; he seemed anxious. He said there were reports that you may be in danger." The lead dragon relayed the information to the group.
Cynder knew that something wasn't right, so she prepared herself for the worst, thinking back to all of the instructions her father taught her. She slowed her breath to calm herself and waited to see what would come of the situation.
"Hold on," Bulsem said. "Terrador is a general I would know, I served under him. He made sure that you never forgot his rank. Also," He pointed out the paw-wraps the guards' paws. "You have wrapped your paws incorrectly. That is the first thing they teach you!" The yellow dragon growled, "Children," He addressed Cynder, Emory, and Ember. "Leave."
The lead dragon shared a glance with one on his left. That dragon nodded, and then quickly stepped forward. His tail shot up, stabbing into Belsum's gut then going up, behind the ribcage and straight into the dragon's heart.
A look of horror fell upon the old dragon's face as he realized what had happened. The blood began to slowly trickle around the puncture. The attacking dragon wrapped a forelimb around the near dead older dragon and dragged him back into a dark alley. There was the sickening squelching sound, over and over again, then the dragon returned, blood soaking the wrap around his forepaw and covering most of his chest.
Cynder just stared at the bloody paw, all of her courage quickly fleeing from her body as she imagined the mangled body of the yellow dragon lying in the alley. Similar memories of the past began to swarm her mind, and her heart began to quicken in pace as she slowly started to panic. She knew that blood-soaked paw. It was the same that had removed the throat of her mother. All the training she learned from Terrador seemed to be erased from her mind, as she began to tremble. The thing forming in her mind was the word 'run'.
And that is what she did. She turned and began to run away, trying to escape the memories that flooded her mind. Ember and Emory watched as she ran away and felt like they should do the same. The three ran as fast as they could. Emory looked behind them and saw that the three dragons were right behind them, a smile on some of their faces as if they enjoyed their little game of cat and mouse.
Cynder took several twists and turns; Ember and Emory doing the same, thinking that Cynder was taking them somewhere safe. Cynder then ran down an alleyway, the end blocked off by a wall. She ran all the way down to the end before laying there.
"Come on, Cynder what are you doing!? Get up," pleaded Ember. But her words fell upon deaf ears as Cynder was still deep in her mind. Ember then noticed that two of the goons that were following them appeared at the front of the way they came in.
"What do you want from us?" shouted Emory.
"We are just here to do a job, so why don't you just hand over that black one over there, and we won't harm you too much," said one of the murders with a smug grin on his face.
"I won't let you lay a single claw on her," Emory shouted back. Turning his head towards the two females behind him he said, "Ember I want you to take Cynder and get out of here, I will try to hold them off as long as I can,"
Ember stood motionless for a few short moments before picking she began to pick Cynder up. With some difficulty Ember managed to place Cynder on her back, and just as she began to take flight, she heard Emory scream as he charged forwards. Emory leaped at the two murders in front of him, but one of them just swung his tail at him knocking him backwards. He hit this back with a thud, but threw his legs up and rolled backwards, shooting several icicles at one.
The dragon, the same one that was covered in Belsum's blood, stepped to the side and pounced at Emory.
The smaller dragon rolled under him, coming into a crouch and launching himself at the lead dragon. The lead dragon opened his mouth, letting out a jet of fire at Emory. A shield of ice formed in front of Emory, and the ice dragon smashed into the leader, clawing and biting at his neck and shoulders. The leader reared on his hind legs, grabbing Emory and ripping him off of his chest, then throwing the ice dragon into the stone ground.
His head collided first with a loud thunk. He groaned and pushed himself to his feet, trying to attack. The blood covered dragon grabbed Emory's head and slammed it into the ground, blood trickling from Emory's mouth.
Ember tried to ignore what was happening, but as she reached the top of the wall, the third goon appeared and grabbed her, pulling her down as he jumped down to the ground. Cynder fell off Ember's back, and the two landed close by Emory. The impact knocked Cynder back to her senses, and though she was very dizzy from it, she quickly shook it off.
She stood and looked at what was around her. She saw that Ember had passed out from landing on her head when she fell, and Emory was having troubles standing. She noticed that Emory had a large but nonlethal gash along his chest alongside several other lesser wounds. She then took into account the two dragons in front of her and the one behind her, keeping them trapped there.
"Now you are coming with us, girl." The leader said as he reached for Cynder. His paw never touched her.
A ball of fire collided with his back, sending him smacking into the alley wall. His scales cracked from the sudden heat, and the sensitive skin underneath blistered and bled. The blood covered dragon had another mass of flames slam into his side, but this one was in the shape of a dragon. Once more, the scales cracked with the fire and heat, but so did the murderer's ribs from the force of the charge. The murderer was knocked over, leaving whatever savior clear, a snarl etched on his face.
It was the red dragon, Spyro. He reared up and dropped his weight into, right on the murderer's ribs. The murder cried out as another snapping sound was heard. Was Spyro really that strong, or heavy? Cynder questioned as she did her best to stay out of the way.
Spyro spun as the third dragon ran at him, lightening brimming the other dragons' jaw and shooting out at Spyro. It barely missed Spyro's head as he turned it to the side just in time.
Fire covered Spyro as he dashed over, slamming into the third dragon's chest and continuing the tackle, knocking him to his back. His claws were red flashes as they repeatedly clawed at the third dragon's chest, tearing off the various scales and littering them across the ground. The third dragon bunched his legs up and kicked Spyro in the gut, pushing the red dragon over him and onto his back. As the third dragon tried to rise, only for Spyro to nail him with another fireball.
Spyro leapt upon the third dragon's head, slamming his jaw viciously into the stone ground before twisting his own around breathing fire down onto the dragon's face.
The fire dragon howled, and wrenched his head from the flames, charging blindly out of the alley. Spyro dropped to the ground, just in time for the leader's tail to miss him. Spyro didn't end there; he pounced on the leader's tail and closed his jaw around the middle of the tail.
With a loud crunch and a howl, Spyro bit through the leader's tail and tore it clean off. Before Spyro could do anything else, the leader grabbed the murderer that was missing part of his tail and dragged him out of the alley in hopes of escaping the monster that attacked them.
Spyro just watched with a look of anger on his face as the three murders ran away leaving behind a small trail of blood in their behind them. Spyro then turned around and asked
"Is everyone alright?"
"I will be fine. Though you may want to check if these two are alright." said Emory as he gestured to Ember, who was still unconscious, and Cynder who was slightly amazed by what Spyro did. "They are more important than me." Spyro only watched him curiously as Emory did his best to stand up but was about to pass out from blood loss. He attempted to take a step only to cringe and fall to the ground.
Cynder almost said something but was stopped when Spyro went over to Emory and did his best to pick him up. Spyro noticed Cynder get closer and stopped her, pointing at Ember. "I think at the moment you have other things to worry about. Take care of her, I'll deal with him." Before Spyro could take Emory somewhere, they heard the soft trotting of covered paws as some of the city guards approached them. Looking at their paw-warps, one could tell they were wrapped properly.
Before one of the guards spoke up, Cynder noticed that the three dragon that attacked them were surrounded by the guards so that they don't run away. Cynder guessed that they followed the trail of blood back to them "Is everyone here alright?" asked one of the guards.
Spyro quickly stood up and approached them, doing his best to keep Emory on his back. "Cynder and I are alright, but the pink one is unconscious, and the blue one has multiple wounds, and is losing blood at decent pace." Spyro said as if he were making a field report to his superiors. Cynder found this strange but she didn't pay too much mind to it.
"Thank you young man," said the same guard. He then turned to some of his other men and said, "Take those two and make sure they are alright,"
Two dragon guards nodded in response and quickly picked Emory and Ember up and flew to the nearest hospital. The guard then looked down at Spyro and said "You must be quite the skilled fighter there for someone your age. You're lucky to be alive in my opinion,"
"Why do you say that?" asked Cynder.
The guard walked up to one of the murders and removed his scarf, revealing three small black and red claw marks, and insignia of a soldier in Malefor's army. "I don't know how they might have snuck in here but be reassured that not a single soul who follows that accursed man will set foot in this city," said the guard hoping by saying that the two young dragons in front of him won't become paranoid by everyone around them questioning who was friend or foe.
But in reality, Cynder more worried about what three of Malefor's soldiers wanted with her. She came to the conclusion that it must have something to do with her father. She wasn't special at all, other than being his daughter so what other reason could there be?
"Where are you going to take them?" asked Spyro breaking Cynder's train of thought.
With a large grin the guard said, "we are going to take them to the prison yard, there they will be interrogated or every single drop of information they can give us about Malefor, and hopefully some of these rumors that have been going around town can be answered,"
"Then you should take them away pretty soon before some of them die from blood loss," Spyro said jokingly.
That guard chuckled at this remark. "You make a fair point young one. You heard him take these guys to get patched up and then send them quickly to jail. On the double men," The guard shouted before all of the guards started to walk away, with the prisoners in tow. The guard who Spyro was talking to stayed behind though. "I just need to quickly check, did anyone else get hurt?"
"Actually yes, an elderly dragon by the name of Belsum was killed before me and my friends before we ran away," said Cynder feeling sorry for the old guy.
"Then shall go find him then right now, I'm sorry for your loss," the guard said thinking that she knew Belsum. The guard then took off in search of the dead body.
Then out of the corner of her eye, Cynder noticed that Spyro began to walk away.
"Hey where do you think you're going, I still have more questions for you," she shouted, but Spyro ignore her and continued to walk away. She growled in annoyance before letting out a sigh and looking up towards the sky in hopes that they would be able to erase the past events as if they held some sort of answer to her questions. Today was definitely a troubling day for her. As she continued to look into the sky she noticed something strange. A couple building down she saw a member of Relconem, as she could tell by his white cloak and mask, standing on a roof a few buildings down looking in her general direction. Had he been watching their fight, or was he just doing what all members of Relconem do?
Cynder looked more closely and noticed that if he was up close to her, he would be just a bit taller than her. Just as he began to walk away Cynder thought back to the one she nearly ran into in school the other day and wondered if they were the same Zealot. She watched as the white cladded dragon walked out of view.
She then shook her head, not wanting to deal with more thoughts regarding this Zealot. Right now, she wanted to see if Ember was alright. So, she took to the skies, heading towards the nearest hospital.
It was very late in the night and the moon hung brightly in the air. Inside the prison, sat the three murders from before, each one being previously interrogated, but held strong and didn't tell the guards a single thing about their master's plans.
"So, when do you think we are going to be sprung out of here," asked one of the goons confidently.
"Oh, I would say any moment right now," said another smugly.
"Keep quiet in there you three," shouted the guard that stood in front of the jail cell.
The three just laughed in response. "Oh, don't you worry, you won't have to hear from us or anyone else for much longer," said the third goon.
Then shortly after the guard felt hard hit his head leaving him dazed. He stumbled before being hit a second time, wounding him badly and knocking him unconscious, though it wasn't fatal. The three dragons in the cell waited for a moment to see who their savor was. Approaching the cell came a young dragon, dressed in the Relconem attire...
"Got anything you want to preach to us?" joked one of the dragons, causing the others to laugh as well. The young dragon removed his mask revealing his face to the three, causing their laughter to instantly go quiet.
"S-sorry we d-didn't know it was you," said the dragon who made the joke nervously. The young dragon didn't say anything, but instead looked at them with a sad look in his eyes, before letting out a sigh. He started to pace around, deep in thought about what he was doing.
"Well what are you waiting for? Let us out of here." Said the leader with the missing tail.
The young dragon clenched his teeth together, before quietly muttering, "I'm sorry." His voice sounding distant and rather sad as he did. The three dragons were very confused by what he said before suddenly realizing what he was going to do.
Their screams reached the deepest parts of the prison and guards from all over came running over to see what was going on. All they found though was the guard who was knocked out and three dead bodies of the murders caught earlier that day.
And there you have it. I hope you all enjoyed it, I myself just loved the ending there. Like I said before, I would love to hear your guys thoughts and opinions as to what the hell is going on in this story. I would like to give credit to my co-author HKGhost for writing the fight scenes as well as editing the story. I would also like to apologies to him for not giving him credit when I first posted the chapter.