Why Me?

Cynder lay awake for hours until sleep overtook her. Her eyelids drooped and her limbs sagged. Grief and worry had sapped her strength and the comforting grip of sleep took over. She slept through the night and awoke only when a noise outside the room aroused her from the realm that sleep took her. She opened her eyes slowly then raised her head and looked at the door. Sounds of a disturbance emanated from behind the door. A chilling howl of pain made Cynder jump up into the air. She landed on her feet and through instinct raised her tail threateningly, its blade glinting menacingly in the eerie poisonous green light cast by the lanterns that hung upon juts in the rock walls.

She watched the door intently as it began to shake. A low growl escaped her throat before she could stop it. The noises stopped for a moment, and then suddenly the door flew open as an ape was thrown into it. Cynder leapt back to dodge the ape as it flew towards her. She whirled around to face another ape that had entered the room. It was a lot bigger than the ape it had thrown yet smaller than Gaul. Cynder looked up at it, taking in its broad shoulders and massive hands. Overall it was a brute and its small piggy eyes looked at her evilly.

Cynder snarled, seeming a lot braver than she felt. The ape lunged at her with his hands spread as if to grab her. She leapt out of the way and blasted a torrent of blazing orange flames at the ape who screeched in pain. The screech was high and painful to Cynder's sensitive ears; so much so she covered them with her wings. Seizing this advantage, the ape struck her with his fist in a punch that sent her careening through the room and into the wall. Dazed, Cynder awaited the final blow with a calm acceptance. Her life so far had been hell and she badly wanted it to end. She closed her eyes and waited for the finishing blow that would end her life and bring the empty darkness…

It never came. Cynder opened her eyes. The large ape commander was hovering in the air, his feet dangling five feet off the ground. Cynder thought for a moment he was going to fly until she saw who was holding him. Gaul had come back into the room and was now holding the ape at eye level. The ape was whimpering at the look of fury in Gaul's eye and begging for mercy. Gaul squeezed him even tighter and was about to snap his back in two when a soft voice whispered.

"No, don't,"

Gaul looked at Cynder who was looking at him with fear reflected in her silver eyes. Her entire body was shaking as if of cold and her eyes were glistening more than usual.

"Please."

Gaul lowered the ape to the floor and released his grip on him. The ape looked from Gaul to Cynder once before hurrying out of the chamber. Gaul watched him go. When he had closed the door behind him Gaul walked over and tapped it with his staff. Instantly the door glowed bright green before fading to normal. Cynder looked up at him wondering what was going to happen to her now. Gaul sat down on his throne then beckoned.

"Come up here and tell me what happened."

Cynder limped to the throne and crawled up onto Gaul's lap then proceeded to tell him how she had heard a commotion outside the door and how the small ape, who had crawled away when the large ape had focused on Cynder, had been thrown through the door. Next she told of how the larger ape had come in and attacked her. Finally her head dropped in shame as she got to the bit where the ape was going to kill her.

"I didn't resist. Part of me wanted it to end. I'm sorry."

Gaul lifted her chin up with his finger and made her look him right in the eye. Silver met blue and green as Gaul looked at the hatchling he had taken it upon himself to raise. She was changing him and right now, he didn't know if it was better or worse.

"Cynder, soon you will find out why this was brought upon you and when you do it will all seem worth it."

She nodded; her throat was too tight to speak. With visible effort she got off Gaul's lap and moved over to her nest which she had repaired yesterday. She made to lie in it then changed her mind… She unfolded her delicate pink wings and told Gaul that she was going for a flight. He didn't object. She flapped her wings and took off, flying straight through a small window in the ceiling, it was there to let in sunlight and fresh air but Cynder found another use for it.

As soon as she was out in the open air her mind cleared and the wind rushing past her face calmed her immensely. Flying was so easy it was wonderful. She had never been taught how to do it, somehow she just knew. Probably due to what had happened in the chamber with the big purple dragon. Folding her left wing made her barrel roll in that direction. Straightening it brought her level in the sky again. It surprised her just how important her tail was in flight. It helped her to keep her balance when she did a difficult manoeuvre.

Unbidden thoughts suddenly rushed into her head. This time however she didn't strive to block them out as she had all the others. This time she considered them.

Cynder's POV: Where did I come from? Why am I being put through this. My body was changed and enhanced but why? I know things that no dragon my age should know yet. How to fly and how to talk. What did the purple dragon thing do to me. What is this Night of Eternal Darkness I keep hearing of? Is that why the moons are together and everything is so dark. This mountain seems, evil. That's the only word I have for it. I'll never forget what I felt when I went into that room with the light. Even Gaul seemed pertrubed by that room. I wish I knew who my parents were, I don't know whether they were good, evil or what. Why was I taken from where I was and brought here when I was just an egg? I wish I knew why I keep seeing that dragon hatchling in my dreams. He seems incredibly important but I don't know. I don't know anything.

Normal POV: Cynder scratched her dark pink chest absent mindedly with her talon. She flew for a few more minutes before deciding it was time to head back. As she was turning around in the air, her mark flashed silver again and the Mountain of Malefor flashed before her eyes and was replaced by a cave near a stream. The dragon hatchling was sitting on a rock sucking his paw. He stayed there for a few moments until the rock glowed silver. Pain lashed across Cynder's chest which almost wrenched her from the vision but she held on. She wanted to know what was going to happen. The light grew brighter and brighter until she could not see the hatchling anymore but she could hear that it was squealing in distress. Suddenly the light pulsed so brightly that Cynder was wrenched from the vision and brought back to herself. She plummeted several feet before she could catch herself, her chest was hurting more than ever. She looked down to see a huge gash. Blood was spurting from it and her pink scales were now glistened like red rubies.

Cynder struggled to remain airborne as white spots appeared before her eyes. Slowly her limbs drooped and she felt her strength drain away even as the blood drained from her body. Her eyes grew cloudy and dim like dying flames. Her eyelids fell over her eyes just as her wings failed her and she plummeted down towards the ground. She dropped like a stone towards the cold hard unforgiving stone ground. She was a mere one hundred feet above the ground when there was a flash of green light. Cynder seemed to slow and she hit the ground softly, as if placed there by a large invisible hand. A massive shadow fell over her limp unconscious form...

Miles away the dragon from Cynder's vision stepped from the cave which was still engulfed in the silvery light. He was now the same size as Cynder. He looked at his new body in confusion.

He was very thin and lithe. His body was hard and compact. . His silver wings wings were now massive and shone so brightly that they looked like moonlight. His tail was also very large and powerful. A deadly silver, flame shaped tail blade flashed at its tip. His black scales shimmered as if shadows were trapped inside them. His underbelly was silver and shone like a polished sword. His eyes were silver, like Cynder's and twinkled in the darkness. His two horns were straight and silver and were patterned with three black bands apiece. On his silver chest was a black mark. It showed two moons coming together inside a black flame. On his forehead was the same mark that Cynder bore. His sharp silver claws tapped against the ground. A row of spikes ran along his back and tail. Looking around he found a fragment of his eggshell. He was about to kick it aside when he saw that something had been written on the outside surface.

The dragon inside this egg shall be called Slasher.

Well I hope you all liked chapter 4. I know I enjoyed writing it. Please rate it out of ten. And well done if you guessed the identity of the egg correctly.

Slasher