Thought you saw the last of me? Sorry about this wait, I lost my inspiration for the entire story at the last bit of this chapter. D: Well, I won't keep you waiting any longer, read on!
Flare slowly made his way down the longest street of Warfang, eyes casted downwards towards his talons and thinking only one thought. Who's voice was that?
The voice that said 'you won't survive' could have been anyone. The red dragon couldn't even make out a trace of it because of the way it was said…and that it also was distorted horribly.
The young dragon looked up for a split second to see that he was walking into a section of the massive city, one that he has never been in. A smile of eagerness crossed his muzzle before he ran further down the street.
As the red dragon continued to run, he crossed many buildings that were coloured in a more darker tint than the ones on the other side of the street, which actually made him confused, but with a shrug he continued his jog.
After a few seconds, the red dragon skidded to a halt, eyes widening as he took in the area in front of him. How could I miss this? He thought, as his eyes scanned. To put it blankly in his mind, it was a park…a massive park. Flare guessed it was the size of two temples length and width. Inside the perimeter were dozens of trees, all were different colors and species, making the park look like a colorful wonderland.
The sight was breathtaking for the red dragon, he always loved nature but to see such a large amount of it, in a city was amazing. Quietly, he jogged up to the large area and continued past a romantic couple who were sitting under a rather colorful tree with a smile.
I wonder if Spyro and Cynder know about this place? The red dragon wondered as he continued to make his way under the large plants. He stopped when he came across a small, growing tree, that reached to the base of his neck. He peered closer to the small tree, the bark on it was rather bland grey than the usual brown bark that the red dragon was used to.
"That small tree there is named Eucalyptus delegatensis or Alpine Ash or Gum-topped stringybark or even White-top," a voiced stated evenly, startling Flare.
The red dragon whipped around to see a young earth dragoness behind him, a good metre away. The dragoness was shorter then Flare by an inch and had a huge club at the end of his tail, which was accustom to all earth dragoness.
A small, shy smile spread across the dragoness' muzzle before she walked closer to the younger dragon. "Excuse my impoliteness," she apologized, bringing herself to a halted an inch away from red dragon's muzzle, way too close for Flare's liking.
The earth dragoness gave another shy smile and kicked the ground nervously, Flare noticed the odd action at the side of his eye.
Why is she nervous? He wondered, giving the dragoness a confused look.
"My name is Trema, but most call me Terra," she introduced, seemingly haven't noticed the other dragon's stare.
Flare stumbled back a few steps, giving him enough space so he can breathe. "That's a nice name, mine's Flare," he replied with a forced smile after he managed to get the distance between the two to half a metre.
Terra took a step closer, eyes flashing with a sudden eagerness. "Oh hi Flare, say why aren't you in school today?"
Flare glared at the opposing dragon. "I've got my reasons," he snarled, suddenly defensive,
A shocked look spread across Terra's face before she took a step back.
The action made Flare feel guilty as he turned to the ground, he was never meant to say that like…that. Just that it was none of her business. He turned back up to see the earth dragoness a few metres away and still slowly backing away.
"I'm sorry!" The red dragon managed to blurt out before Terra turned tail and ran. As the earth dragoness got further and further away, Flare turned to the ground again, still guilty. "I'm sorry," he repeated, turning back to the growing tree, that was now an inch from the red dragon.
Flare allowed his eyes to slowly drag from the top of the plant to the bottom, carefully examining every little detail. "So this plant is called Alpine Ash," the red dragon muttered, forgetting the other names Terra told him.
The thought of the earth dragoness brought another wave of bitterness to wash over him. Suddenly, the red dragon found that his thoughts were being drawn to the dragoness and how the encounter.
True, Flare can admit that he completely overreacted to a simple question, but the red dragon couldn't help but wonder how she approached him. Their muzzles were almost touching! A wave of uneasiness came over the young dragon as the thought came back to him. He was no fool, that dragoness fell for him, to put it blandly.
A sigh escaped, his maw before looking himself over. Why would she fall for me? He wondered, remembering the scar that was over his right eye, that mark was anything but cute. Another thought wriggled itself into the red dragon's mind, one that set his anger off, again. Or she could be wanting to use me to get close to Spyro, he thought bitterly, scales slightly darkening.
He turned back to the direction where Terra ran off as his scales continued to darken. Now it didn't feel bad at all, seeing the earth dragoness run away, he wanted to see it again. He wanted to see her blood, get revenge on what she planned to do, see he suffer, see her limb body.
The red dragon's eyes widened in horror before his scales returned to their normal color, a crimson red. No, he thought in horror. How could he think such a thing? He shook his head as a tear escaped his eye. No, no, no! I'm a monster!
The red dragon quickly turned away and took off running, as more tears escaped his eyes. A swell of guilt and fear began to collect in the red dragon's heart as he grew further and further away from the park. He drew to a halt halfway down the street, he needed to get away, get away from everywhere, everyone, everything. He needed time to think, alone time. But where could he go?
The question came to the red dragon unexpectedly, before he took off again. The answer came to him at full force a few seconds later, as the red dragon narrowly dodged a passing fire dragoness.
With a new destination in his head, the red dragon quickly took flight. His destination was further away than he would've liked but it was the only area he could have private time. With a sigh, he quickly changed the direction he was flying, before he could leave he had to do something.
After a few seconds, the red dragon landed with a thud outside a massive building. He hurriedly ran into the house and after another few seconds, he was in front of his chamber. With another sigh, Flare used a forepaw to push the door open. With a startling creak, the door slowly swung open. The red dragon entered the room, only to be welcomed by a blinding red-tinted light. He turned his gaze up to 'the window', a longing feeling to reach up and touch it soon filled the red dragon.
Flare snapped out of the trance seconds after, suddenly remembering his mission. With another sigh, the red dragon turned to the bookcase that was in his room. After hesitating briefly, he walked silently over to the object. The bookcase had three shelves to it, the two tallest were filled to the brim with massive books which Flare barely read. The last was filled with a large amount of parchment, in case Flare needed to write something. This was one of the times he did.
Hastily, he began to collect an amount of parchment. After the red dragon had an average amount of the paper, he staggered to his bed on three paws, one holding the parchment. A muffled sigh escaped the red dragon's maw as he place the thin material down on his bed. Without wasting another second, he turned around again and began to make his way to the bookcase again. As he stopped in front of it again, he tilted his head up and caught sight of his objective. I feather dipped in ink.
A scowl instantly found itself onto his muzzle as he figured out that it was on top of the bookcase. Who would keep that up there? He wondered as he continued to gaze at the immobile object. After a second of thought, the red dragon placed a paw onto the bookcase. Instantly, it began to wobble, causing some of the ink to spill, one drop even got onto the red dragon's muzzle.
With a tired groan, he wiped it off with the back of his forepaw, before returning his gaze to his mission once again. Normally, if he was in a situation like this, the red dragon would have quickly flown up and grabbed it with a forepaw, but the chances of doing that indoors was highly unlikely.
What can I do? He wondered as he turned his gaze away from the jar which held the ink, to his talons. By now, the red dragon was completely flabbergasted, how could one jar of ink cause so much trouble? Out of pure boredom, he allowed his eyes to drag itself across his room. A second later, the red dragon did a double-take when he passed his bed, before peering closer to what caught his eye.
A ladder? He wondered, greatly surprised. What was a wooden ladder doing in his room? The red dragon didn't have to think long before an idea hit him. After pausing briefly, he quickly moved to the ladder and lifted it up with a forepaw. The object was far heavier then the red dragon suspected.
After a few pained groans and loud sounds of wood hitting stone, he finally leant the large wooden object against the wall beside his bookcase. When the red dragon took a couple of steps back to catch his breath, the insanity of what he was planning to do finally hit him. The wooden ladders were made for moles not dragons, it could break right under him.
The thought of calling for help reached the red dragon's mind, but he quickly smothered it with his pride. The legendary Spyro's youngest brother gets defeated by an ink jar, what a joke, he thought bitterly, turning back to the ladder. He knew how to use this, he'd seen moles use it every time, but to think he'd finally have to, it was…weird.
With another quick pause, the red dragon lay his right forepaw atop the first step of the ladder. With a gulp, he lay his other forepaw on the next step, the red dragon used his hind legs to push his forepaws even higher and reached the fourth or fifth step. Now was the hard part, he hugged the ladder with his two forepaws and took his hind legs off the ground and onto the next step.
The red dragon could've sworn that the ladder groaned under his weight. Another step, beads of sweat rolled down his muzzle and onto his right forepaw, not helping him to grip the steps. He was a few steps from the top, if only he could skip a few.
That's when he realized, he could easily lean over and grab the ink jar. A sigh of relief escaped his maw as he retrieved his prize. The red dragon quickly spread his wings and flapped down with the ink jar between his talons. He didn't waste any time, when he got to his bed to quickly scribble down his message.
After rolling the parchment up, lacing a band over it and placing the ink jar where he could easily reach it, the red dragon placed his note beside he bed, where he was certain Spyro would find it. After taking a final glance at his room, the red dragon headed out.
A minute later, he found himself outside his home, an eager smile across his muzzle. With two flaps of his wings, he was in the air. By now the sun was setting, casting the world bellow with an orangey tint as it continued to set. School would be ending soon, which immediately set the red dragon in a more hurried pace.
The rest of the flight was uneventful; the red dragon quickly flew over the rocky mountains which divided Warfang from Avalar. He didn't look bellow as he passed over the rocky area; there were not much to see after all, just mountains. Soon, the sun was below the horizon, casting the red dragon into darkness.
As the wind continued to whip across his muzzle, the voice came back to the relaxed red dragon. His muzzle scrunched into one of deep anger, why couldn't this leave him? Again, the voice came, louder than the last.
He let out a tired groan as he focused onto getting to the cheetah village, trying to ignore the continuous repetition of 'the voice'. Minutes passed as the mountains began to thin out, leaving the more appealing grassland of Avalar.
A delighted grin came to the red dragon's muzzle as he finally caught sight of his objective; the cheetah village. But as the red dragon closed in, the smile left, leaving a horror-filled expression over his face.
The village was in runes! From the distance he was in, the red dragon could hardly make out anything except that the buildings were alight. A sudden wave of urgency flooded over the red dragon before he landed on one of the nearby clearings silently, questions flooding into his mind.
From where he had landed, Flare as a good three hundred metres from the cheetah village. Large undergrowth prevented any real sighting of him before he was very close, this place was an attack waiting to happen.
The red dragon sprinted down, towards the village and his answers. The cheetahs seemed to have heard him because a few seconds later when he burst out of the undergrowth he had stop immediately before he got skewered by a well crafted spear.
The cheetah's expression changed from one of challenging to one of surprise. "A dragon?" he said surprised.
Flare merely nodded. "Yes, can you lead me into the village?" he asked, doubting the guard would say a yes.
As expected, the guard shook his head before gripping his spear tightly. "Chief Prowlus ordered me to not allow anyone into the village," the cat's eyes narrow slightly. "And I plan to listen to that order."
An unexpected sigh escaped from Flare's maw. "Please, I come in no harm. I just saw your village burning from the sky and I just wanted to see if you needed any help."
The cheetah's gaze softened a bit, before it instantly hardened again. "How do I know you're not lying?" he asked, jabbing the spear closer to the small dragon.
Flare didn't flinch a scale. "Is Hunter in the village?" he asked, earning himself a suspicious glare from the cat.
"Yes, why?"
Flare turned away and stared at a tree that looked strangely similar to the Alpine Ash, instantly reminding him of Terra. With a quick shake of his head, he turned back to the questioning looking cheetah. "Tell him that my name is Flare."
Another confused look came over the cheetah guards face before his turned around and began to run off. He stopped a foot from where he was to turn back to the dragon. "How do I know you won't enter the village?"
The way this cheetah kept asking question annoyed Flare, a lot. But he allowed his anger to fade with another sigh. "Call it a dragon's oath," he answered with a small smile.
The cheetah guard looked far from convinced from the answer he got, but thankfully left without another word.
The red dragon quickly turned back to the tree, remembering the events that happened a few hours ago again. She didn't deserve that, he thought, as the words he said at the time came back to him.
I have my reasons. Now that he thought about it, the words he said weren't all that horrible but the way he said it, it didn't even sound like him.
He was snapped out of his thoughts by the sound of paws hitting the hard dirt. Quickly, the red dragon turned to see Hunter running towards him, the cheetah guard closely following. The two cheetahs stopped a few metres from the red dragon, as if they were scared of him. The red dragon quickly shook his head to clear his head of the thoughts, before he stepped closer to the other two.
The expression on Hunter's face was unreadable, like always, as he met the young dragon halfway. "Flare, what are you doing here at night?" he asked, knelling on one leg to lower himself to the dragon's height.
Flare scowled slightly at the welcoming, it wasn't a 'hello' but he decided to let it slide. A dark looked crossed his face as he stared back at the cheetah. "I was flying over the mountains to have a surprise visit on you guys until…" he lied, fading off.
Hunter nodded in reply. "Yes of course," he said simply, motioning for the young dragon to enter the village.
Flare took the opportunity gratefully, before he stepped past the cheetah guard who returned to his post. Another dark look crossed the red dragon's features as he strode into the village of cheetahs, the houses around him were either still burning or burnt to a crisp. Beside each building were cheetahs gathering wood, animal hide and other resources, all were trying their best to rebuild.
The red dragon wasn't new to these scenarios, in fact he's been in many. In the year when Malefor was his master, The Dark Master would've sometimes ordered Flare's darker half to take out entire villages in the blink of an eyes. Set another creature's home alight because he found it enjoyable to watch.
Almost every time there were soldiers in each village, soldiers that stood no chance against a blood-thirsty teenage dragon, as the real Flare watched through his own eyes what he was doing, causing suffering…pain…death.
"Flare?" Hunter stated, breaking the young, red dragon out of his trance.
He quickly shook his head to clear all thoughts of his past out of his head. "Y-Yeah?" he stammered, quickly turning to the golden cheetah who had a suspicious look in his eye.
All the cheetah did was turn back in front of them before suddenly stopping. "We're here."
Flare came to a startling halt seconds after, before quickly turning around and catching sight of a building which was still in one piece, the size of it was rather massive, the red dragon guessed that half the actual village could fit into the massive area. The sight was strangely calming for the red dragon, at least one building survived, he thought as Hunter began to walk again, with the red dragon on his heels.
As soon as he entered, he was hit with the aroma of cooking meat, which filled the red dragon's nostrils, before his stomach suddenly growled loudly. He held his gut instantly with a forepaw, as the feeling of hunger continued to barrel itself into him. The red dragon suddenly felt eyes on him, before he turned to Hunter to see him grinning happily at him. He felt his cheeks brighten up in embarrassment as the golden cheetah chuckled.
"Looks like our guest hasn't eaten yet," he stated, the smile still there.
Flare turned away bashfully, only then did he take in that building they were in was heavily decorated with beads of small gems and the often animal hide. Where are we? He wondered as his eyes gazed onto a large, heavy-looking animal hide jacket armor.
Hunter seemed to have noticed Flare's confused gaze, because a second later he announced. "We are in Chief Prowlus' house," he turned to the small dragon next to him before looking in front of him. "Only those most high-ranked can enter this area," he began to walk down the narrow hallway.
Flare quickly followed silently. Up ahead, the red dragon could hear the sounds of a very private conversation, he knew it was private because the voices were hushed. Instantly, the red dragon suddenly felt nervous, this was Prowlus he was going to interrupt during a meeting, Prowlus, that'd he have tell that he actually snuck out of Warfang just to get some alone time, which didn't seem to happen anytime soon.
The red dragon turned an inquisitive gaze to the golden cheetah next to him as a question came to his mind. Why is Hunter guiding me to Prowlus? He wondered, as the voices continued to grow louder. It's not like I can do anything for the village, he turned back in front of him as they approached a beaded curtain.
Hunter withdrew a paw and drew it open, before motioning to the young dragon next to him to enter. Flare nodded as thanks before entering the rather narrow opening. The scene he saw before him didn't help the dragon's confidence much. There were three cheetahs, all sitting in a large circular room, around a fire with a slow cooking piece of meat over it. Again, this room was heavily decorated with beads and other animal hide, but right now the red dragon couldn't care less, all the cheetahs where staring at him!
Flare quickly turned around to see if Hunter followed, to his horror he didn't. He quickly turned around back to the middle cheetah, the one that the red dragon recognized as Prowlus. By now, the red dragon was so nervous that he felt like just running out of that area and never going back, but with another sigh to calm his emotions, he turned to his talons nervously.
The room was silent for a few seconds, the red dragon couldn't see what expressions the opposing cheetahs had but he was sure Prowlus was angry. A quick look up was all he needed to get his answer.
The Chief had an icy glare aiming straight at the young, red dragon, his features was scrunched up in a deep scowl as four words left his mouth. "Why are you here?" he asked, deathly quietly.
Flare was caught by surprised by the sheer intensity of the chief's voice, though it was quiet. The words that Prowlus asked didn't fully process in the red dragon's mind for a few seconds, numbed by the fear that was steadily growing inside him. When the numbness wore off, he stood up as tall as he could to try help his confidence.
It didn't work.
Prowlus' icy glare seemed to penetrate and destroy any amount of confidence the red dragon had left. No matter how many times he tried to say it, it just wouldn't come out.
"I'm waiting…" the chief growled impatiently.
Another jolt of fear flooded through the red dragon as he met the chief's icy gaze. The temptation to suddenly scream out "if you want me to talk, STOP GLARING AT ME!" was overwhelming. But fear and the little amount of confidence left stopped him from making such a bold move.
Flare swallowed nervously. "I don't know," he finally replied nervously.
The answer seemed to ignite all the anger inside of the chief in that instant as he stood up and stomped up to the dragon until he was barely half a metre away from Flare, too close for his liking. "What do you mean!" he roared, almost destroying the red dragon's eardrums.
Flare backed away a few steps by the sheer fierceness in the cheetah's voice, but half a second later, anger began to swell up inside of him, as he took a step forward.
"I landed when I saw your village in a burning heap!" he growled, anger flashing in his eyes. "I wanted to know what happened, so Hunter lead me here. The cheetah…" the red dragon left the sentence to hang in the air as he turned around to the curtain where he came from. "Who didn't follow me in here?" the sentence was directed to the golden cheetah behind the curtain who Flare knew was hearing every word.
An awkward silence descended upon the four in the room, a few seconds later a golden cheetah entered through the beaded curtain, padding as silent as the wind outside.
Flare let out a sigh to calm his nerves as the cheetah strode towards the group. Deep down inside the red dragon, he was hating Hunter for what he just did, hating him for what almost happened. What was he going to achieve by leaving him alone with the one cheetah who absolutely hated his species!
Prowlus turned his heated gaze to his highest ranked warrior. "Elaborate Hunter, why did you bring this…dragon, into my home during a very important meeting?" he asked, saying the word 'dragon' in disgust.
Flare easily picked up on it, but quickly ignored it with a quick shake of his head. Why should he listen to him anyway, holding a grudge against a whole species just because one started a massive war that lasted for a thousand years and killed many lives?
Hunter stepped forward and instantly met the chief's gaze. "Prowlus, this young dragon was just seeking answers. I just thought you should be the one to tell him because you are the one most informed," the cheetah's eyes then narrowed a bit. "Don't forget the thing they did for us those many years ago."
The mention of the last sentence seemed to make the chief shudder a bit, instantly reminding Flare of the event and also sparking a small smile inside of him. I almost forgot about that event… the red dragon thought as he gazed from Prowlus to Hunter. The red dragon found it extremely intriguing how the golden cheetah brought it into the subject.
When a sigh reached his ears, the red dragon turned back to Prowlus, the one who sighed. The chief held up a paw to tell Flare to come closer.
The red dragon followed obediently, hardly even stammering, even though he felt inside as scared as ever. I small part of him was disgusted by the way he was submitting to a cheetah, one cheetah, while the other, larger part, wanted to turn tail and run out of there.
He stopped in front of the fire, gazing deeply into its bright core. The flames mesmerized the young dragon for a few seconds before Prowlus's voice broke into his thoughts.
"So you seek answers, dragon?" he asked, again speaking the word 'dragon' in disgust.
Flare sharply nodded his head, still looking into the mesmerizing flames as it licked his scales, somehow not inciting pain. But for some reason, the red dragon couldn't take his eyes off the flickering flame, his body felt calm, he felt that he knew everything around him, he could feel the way Prowlus didn't want to tell what happened to the village. He also felt that nothing could break his gaze from the glowing heat in front of him.
He was wrong.
I second later, the same cheetah guard ran into the room rather rashly. Flare didn't take his gaze off the flame in front of him as Prowlus stood up as the guard approached him, an angry look over his features.
"What is the meaning of this!" he asked, his icy glare staring down at his own guard.
"Ch-Chief Prowlus," the guard stated shakily. "W-We've got three dragons just outside that are waiting f-for you."
The statement caught Flare by complete surprise as he finally looked away from the flame and onto the cheetah guard, an inquisitive look over his muzzle.
Likewise Prowlus seemed less than impressed by the statement as a snarl escaped his maw. "Why do you allow them to enter the village, without informing Hunter or I?" he asked, the anger not leaving his voice.
The cheetah guard flinched a bit from the intensity of the chief's voice; a hesitant step backwards acknowledged that he indeed felt scared.
"Prowlus, I tried to tell them to wait, but they insisted to enter," he answered almost weakly.
The chief cheetah didn't seem to be happy with the answer, because the intense glare kept its sturdy hold on his features. Flare flinched a bit as Prowlus' fur began to stand on end, making him look twice as large. Now the part of the red dragon that thought that this cheetah was like all others, seemed less confident.
"Flare, I know you're in there!" a voice suddenly shouted from outside, breaking the deathly silence.
Flare turned his head quickly in the direction of the voice, eyes widened in surprise as a feeling of fear crept its way into his heart. He recognized that voice. He didn't want to, but he did.
A tired groan left the red dragon's maw as he got to his feet slowly. "It's for me," he stated to the cheetahs in the room before silently opening the beaded curtain with a wing and exiting.
How did they get here so fast? He wondered in his head as he began his small walk to the outside world.
Shortly after, he was outside in the fresh air, the only light coming from a few bonfires beside him and the full moon above. In front of the red dragon were a purple dragon, a black dragoness and a rather outraged-looking blue dragon all standing side-by-side and staring at Flare inquisitively.
The red dragon kicked a nearby pebble nervously as the other three dragons continued to stare. After taking a deep breath to calm his senses, Flare looked back up to the opposing dragons.
"I bet you want to know why I came here," he stated blandly, a small apologizing smile crossing his muzzle.
"Later," Spyro said, waved a dismissive paw before walking past his youngest brother silently. "For now I've got to know what happened here."
Cynder quickly followed after her mate, only giving a small, fleeting smile as she passed Flare, which the red dragon gladly returned. Cavice, on the other hand didn't make any eye contact with his younger brother and just roughly pushed passed him without a word.
Flare couldn't stop the small, dejected sigh that escaped his maw, he knew he didn't have even the worst of his blue brother's attitude yet. Feeling rather deflated, the red dragon rushed back into Prowlus' home and after his companions.
As he entered the room again through the beaded curtain, his eyes darted straight to the other three dragons that were around the fire. Spyro and Cynder were exchanging a light conversation with Hunter, but Cavice was just staring blankly at the surrounding decorations around the room. As silently as he could be, the red dragon padded his way back to his original position, before the other dragons arrived and turned to Prowlus again.
A look of shock had entered the chief cheetah's features as he changed his gaze from Spyro, to Cynder, to Cavice and finally to Flare. When the red dragon met the cheetah's eyes there was one emotion that was clear. Anger.
Flare gulped nervously before diverting his gaze away from the chief and back to the fire. For an unknown reason, this fire seemed to draw all his attention away from the other creatures around it and only onto the soft glow it gave.
The more the red dragon stared at it the more it seemed to be alive. It seemed almost as if it was just going to come alive and surround him in its warm heat. Suddenly, there was a glimpse of green inside the glowing flame, startling Flare.
The red dragon stumbled back a step, catching the attention of Cavice, who was sitting quietly on the other side of the fire.
"What's the matter?" he asked inquisitively, as he fixed his younger brother in his gaze.
Flare didn't even turn to the blue dragon, just kept staring at the fire in front of him, searching for that glimpse of green he just saw. He could swear that it wasn't his imagination.
He didn't know how long he was searching for but when he turned his eyes to Cavice, he had already turned away, a distant look in his eyes.
The red dragon was about to call his brother, but at that moment a growl interrupted him. Flare recognized who it was instantly, as he turned to Prowlus, who had an enraged look over his features. But to be truthful, Flare couldn't blame him, he knew the cheetah disliked dragons and to see four in his house must really anger the chief.
Suddenly, the chief cheetah turned a heated glare at the red dragon, startling him. In that split second, Flare thought that the chief would actually attack him. To his delight and surprise, he didn't. Instead, the cheetah just took in a deep breath and let it out, letting out a long, deep sigh, before walking up to the young dragon.
"I should've expected this much from a dragon," he muttered sourly, crossing his hands across his chest as he said it. "When you allow one to enter, they all come."
Flare just mildly shrugged. "That can go your way as well," he stated smugly, a deep grin crawling onto his muzzle.
The cheetah chief shot the dragon a fierce glare. "What!"
"Hey, hey take it easy, it was only a joke," Flare waved a dismissive paw as if the head cheetah didn't even shout.
Prowlus' glare seemed to wither under the innocent response Flare just gave, before he turned away.
"You wouldn't feel so cheerful if you have suffered what we just did," he mumbled, barely audible.
The room suddenly fell quiet, as if the entire room had heard what the cheetah chief had just said and was waiting for him to continue.
A small smile found itself on Flare's muzzle when he realized this, it was somewhat amusing. Another sigh from Prowlus brought the red dragon's attention back to the matter at hand.
"You promise me that you'd tell your guardians the information I'm going to tell you?" he asked, turning to Spyro.
The purple dragon nodded immediately, not taking a second to think.
Prowlus seemed to flinch at how quickly the dragon nodded, but resently, the chief cheetah made his way to his original position around the fire, on the other side of the flame of Flare. The room was filled with the noise of paws hitting the hard dirt shortly after as everyone in the room went to move around the fire.
Flare made his way back to his original position but didn't even look at the flame this time, still feeling a bit confused about the bazaar colour in the fire. But after pushing it to the back of his mind, he turned to Prowlus.
"Now," he began before taking in a deep breath. "Shortly before the arrival of the first dragon, the village was attacked by a small group of grublins. When I went out to face off against these tyrants, I noticed that they weren't aiming for my men, but on our homes. After a few minutes, they retreated, leaving most of our homes in runes and without a place to sleep," he concluded, sweeping his gaze to each dragon.
Flare met Cavice's gaze. A silent message passed between the two before the blue dragon nodded. There was only one fiend that would plan an attack on a harmless village of cheetahs and both brothers knew who it was.
"If I could put my thoughts into this discussion," Cavice stated politely as he got to his feet slowly. He turned his gaze from Prowlus to his younger brother. "My best guess is that this attack was arranged by Malefor himself."
"Why?" Hunter asked, giving the blue dragon a look that seemed far from satisfied from the information he was getting.
"Because the cheetahs are the dragons' allies," Spyro interrupted bitterly, turning his gaze from Hunter to Flare. "You were thinking the same thing, weren't you?"
Flare simply nodded before turning to Prowlus to see the chief's reaction.
Strangely, it was calm and collected, a quality that Flare hasn't seen too often. Suddenly, the chief cheetah stood up and stared bitterly at Spyro.
"So we got attacked because he wanted to weaken your forces and have a better chance to take your city?" he asked, the dread thick in his voice.
Spyro nodded simply before turning his gaze down into the flame.
"No, I think there is more to it," Cynder stated, turning her gaze from Spyro to Prowlus. "Don't forget, the grublins didn't kill anyone in the village. If Malefor wanted to take out Warfang's allies, he could've easily wiped out everyone in your village without breaking a sweat.
The last comment seemed to ignite more anger from Prowlus as the look of deep anger got to his features. "We are not useless, dragon," he snarled.
"No, Cynder's right," Flare interrupted as he shook his head slowly. "If he wanted this place wiped out, he would've sent a massive group to do so," he turned to Cynder. "He could destroy the entire valley with only half of his army, but that he hadn't is pretty disturbing."
Suddenly, Prowlus angrily got to his feet and stomped up to the red dragon. "And how you know this, dragon?"
Flare could easily detect the suspicious note in the chief cheetah's voice, which annoyed him further. Why did this one cheetah have to be so, so…different? Why did he always have to be on his back? Why did he want him off his back, he hadn't even done anything wrong.
The more the red dragon thought of it, the more it angered him. With a sigh, he got to his feet and turned to walk out of the house but a voice stopped him.
"Flare, what are you doing?" It was Spyro.
Why did Spyro have to be so caring? He wondered bitterly, before turning around to face the purple dragon.
"I want to get away from him," he stated, pointing at Prowlus with a wing. "He has always been on my back since I've came here," he then glared at the cheetah chief who still hadn't moved from his spot. "So now I'm going, happy!" he snarled to the chief before he quickly ran out of that house as fast as his legs could carry him.
He burst out of the building seconds after and was met with the cool breeze of Avalar. The breeze did little to calm the already raging red dragon as he ran through the village, startling many cheetahs, making them yelp in surprise.
But he couldn't care less, they were all the same, who cares if they get slaughtered by the grublins, who cares if Malefor did something worse than death to them. After all, they wouldn't care if the dragons were the ones getting slaughtered. A flash of darkness came over the red dragon's scales before it returned back to its crimson red.
The frail-looking gates of the cheetah village came into the red dragon's view. With two flaps of his golden wings, Flare was in the air, gusts of wind whipped across his muzzle, doing extremely little to slow him down as he brushed over the gates and took off higher in the sky.
Up here, there was a strong turbulence. The fierce winds whipped against the red dragon, slowing the flight down majorly. But he couldn't care less about it; his mind was set on one thing. What did he do to Prowlus do make him so angry with him?
Another flash of dark red.
The red dragon began to descend when the feeling in his wings began to grow numb. The instant he landed, he fell to the cool grass, tears pouring out of his eyes.
"Prowlus you idiot, what did I do to you?" he cried between sobs.
He didn't know how long he was there crying in the silence, but after a few minutes - what he thought were minutes – he stopped and instead allowed his eyes to drag along the scenery around him. He had landed in a tall, stray patch of grass. Tall, healthy trees grew around with a few ripe fruit grew in them.
With a sigh, the red dragon lay his head on the back of his paws and closed his eyes, listening to the wind around and the peaceful silence around him. Flare liked the silence, he hated being in busy, tight cities with too much noise in them.
As the minutes went by, the wind around him continued to blow, seemingly getting stronger by the second as he sat in the silence. After a few more minutes a spot of moisture fell on the red dragon's head, making him turn up towards the sky, startled.
It didn't take the red dragon a long time to notice the grey clouds above him, the indication that a storm was coming and judging from how dark they were, very soon. The thought didn't seem to lighten the red dragon's mood a bit; it seemed like the clouds above even wanted to show his despair to the outer world.
Another drop of rain managed to make itself onto his muzzle again. Annoyed, he used the back of his paw to rub the drop of water off, a second before another drop fell onto that same place that he just wiped.
The red dragon let out a depressing sigh as he lay his head in his paws again, far too annoyed to do anything else. That was how he was for what seemed like hours, simply allowing the rain to drench him and fill him with its cold temperature. The wind also whipped up, chilling him to the bone and making the many droplets of water feel like ice.
But even through all this, Flare had his mind still on the incident with Prowlus. It seemed to stick to his mind and never want to let go, it was haunting.
Suddenly, the red dragon was aware of the soft sound of wing beats – which was barely audible over the now-raging storm –and turned up to catch sight of a black dragoness slowly descending towards him, a look of worry over her muzzle.
A small sigh escaped his lips as the dragoness landed silently beside him. The last thing Flare wanted right now was company.
"What do you want Cynder?" he growled gruffly, the feeling of anger still not completely settled in.
If the black dragoness was surprised by the way the way the red dragon said it, she didn't show it. "We want you to return, Flare," she answered sternly.
Flare snorted as he got to his feet. "To the cheetah village? Don't make me laugh," he snarled challengingly, taking a step closer to Cynder, eyes narrowed all-the-while. "After they literally kicked me out of that place, I wouldn't even want to return."
"They didn't kick you out!" Cynder retorted loudly, voice full of surprise.
Flare rolled his eyes. "Don't start with all that crap, Cynder. Prowlus made it pretty much clear that he never wanted to see me again, no matter the consequences."
The statement seemed to take the black dragoness by surprise, because she back away a few step from what could have only been confusion.
"Just because Prowlus hates you doesn't mean every cheetah in the entire world does the same," she stated more even than she looked.
Cynder's comment didn't even reassure Flare a bit, even though, deep inside he knew that the black dragoness was right. But at this moment, anger blurred his vision from seeing that way.
A small growled rumbled at the back of the red dragon's throat as he looked Cynder deep into the eyes.
"Are you siding with the cheetahs?" he asked, the anger evident in his voice.
Again, Cynder stammered back a few paces as the question took her by surprise. "What?"
"Are you siding with the cheetah?" Flare repeated, anger growing by the second as he turned away to gaze at a soaked tree to his left.
Why am I so angry? A small part of the red dragon wondered as Cynder continued to stammer. Of course this small part was overruled by the enraged, larger section of him.
"Flare, I'm not siding with anyone," Cynder answered quietly.
Suddenly, Flare felt a deep anger flare up inside of him as he turned to Cynder. Gradually, the vision of the black dragoness seemed to blur up and fade until the red dragon's vision faded to nothing but black. It confused him deeply, he didn't remember closing his eyes? Only then did he hear two words that sounded a lot like his voice and yet it also seemed somewhat…distorted.
"…Wrong answer"
*.*.*
Standing on a high hill that towered over the Valley of Avalar, a purple dragon had a worried look had already found its way onto his muzzle as he paced back and forth, checking the valley below him ever-so-often.
Spyro knew that a massive storm was coming; he could smell the moister in the air as the grey clouds above moved closer. But he wasn't worried about it; he knew that he, Cavice and the cheetahs could easily ride out the storm, hopefully unscathed.
What he was worried about though, was his most beloved dragoness had just left him, going out to look for his youngest brother. Of course the purple dragon persisted, but was quickly turned down when Cynder flew away, a reassuring smile spread across her muzzle.
That all happened a few minutes before the storm came. Now, Spyro desperately wanted fly straight in the direction where the black dragoness, but found himself pacing restlessly instead, waiting for his dragoness to return.
A sudden sound of a twig snapping behind him brought the purple dragon's attention away from the valley below and onto the few bushes behind him, muscles tensed, body posed for a battle. Only then did he recognize the young blue dragon he was now facing and allowed his body to relax.
"Cavice?" Spyro asked slowly before turning back to the valley.
The opposing, smaller dragon slowly walked to his elder brother, keeping a steady gaze on the purple dragon as he continued to pace in front of him, he muzzle in an unreadable expression.
"I thought you might want some company," he answered steadily, before sitting down a metre away from the purple dragon and silently watching his elder brother pace.
A small sigh of relief escaped the purple dragon's maw as a small smile found itself on his muzzle. How did this dragon know him so well? They've only known each other for a few battle-filled weeks and every time there wasn't a battle, the two were separated from each other because of classes. So how?
Would he understand how I'm feeling? He wondered, taking a quick glance at the smaller dragon who now had followed his gaze down to the valley.
"Spyro," he suddenly called, bringing Spyro back to reality. "I know how you feel about Cynder, but pacing restlessly won't accomplish anything," he stated, turning his head towards the purple dragon, the same unreadable expression plastered over his muzzle.
Spyro felt his gaze drag back to the valley. Yes, he knew his brother was right, he knew it from the first time he came up, but despite his best efforts, the worrying feeling that Cynder was in trouble couldn't leave him.
"Cynder is more than capable to take care of herself, Spyro. She is one of the strongest dragoness' in the world, I would think she could handle any animal in this valley and with Flare probably by her side, she's as safe as the civilians inside Warfang," Cavice stated, his voice full of confidence as his gaze dragged back to the valley. "I'm sure she's safe, Spyro."
Spyro could feel all his worry disappear as he pondered what his younger brother just said. Again, Cavice was right. Spyro knew better than anyone that fact. She had helped him defeat their most strongest foe – and the most powerful in the entire world - The Dark Master.
A muffled sigh escaped his maw again as he slowly got to his feet. "You're right Cavice," he stated, turning around to face the blue dragon behind him. "Come on, let's go back to the cheetah village, maybe they'd have something for us to do."
Cavice nodded once before he got to his feet.
With a nod, the purple dragon opened his golden wings and took to the air, closely followed by Cavice.
The flight took a few minutes because of the confusing gusts of wind that frequently took the two brothers further away from their destination then they would've like. But, eventually, they landed heavily on the damp earth inside the cheetah village.
Instantly, Spyro realized that there wasn't a cheetah in sight.
They must've gone to Prowlus' because it's the most sturdy, he thought as his gaze drifted to the remaining houses.
There definitely were more huts than last time he was here, but most looked fragile and also that they are on their last legs to even stand. The purple dragon guessed that the cheetahs were already rebuilding before the storm came and these were the finished results.
Despite the fact that they were definitely not house-worthy, Spyro had to admit that the cheetahs did a lot in the time when he was away. Most only needed roofs and a more sturdy structure. But despite this, there was an extremely high possibility that they were going to get blown down by the coming storm.
"They even made one for us," Cavice stated, walking to the purple dragon's side and pointing with a wing to the largest of the many huts.
This one was clearly made for dragons, because of the design was much different to the others. The other huts were much taller and skinnier then this one. The dragon hut had obviously had less work done into it, because it was only the structure that hadn't been covered in animal hide, it was literally a pile of standing sticks. But, thick rope tied the bottom of the hut down to the ground.
This instantly got Spyro's attention as he walked up to the structure.
Noticing that the purple dragon's gaze was on the rope, Cavice walked until he was beside his brother again. "I tied it down because I guessed that a storm was coming," he answered to his brother's silent question.
Spyro nodded and turned his attention to the largest building in the village, Prowlus' house.
"Let's go," he told the younger dragon as he walked slowly to the building.
When the two arrived, Spyro parted the beaded curtain with a wing and motioned for his younger brother to enter first.
A small smile of gratitude came to the younger dragon's muzzle before he nodded and entered.
Spyro followed instantly.
When the purple dragon entered, he was met with the same scent he smelt last time and the same colourful surroundings. But this time, the house was filled with voices of many cheetahs as they hid in the only building that's still standing upright in their entire village.
Spyro instantly felt sympathy for the cheetahs as he slowly made his way around them and forwards to the main room. How would he feel if Warfang was destroyed by a gust of wind?
Though the thought seemed extremely unlikely and unrealistic, it was definitely unsettling.
After a couple of minutes of carefully moving around the hiding cheetahs, the two dragons made their way closer to the main room. Here, the voices of the other cheetahs could hardly be heard.
Cavice parted the final beaded curtain with a wing and motioned for the purple dragon to enter first.
Unfortunately, Spyro couldn't enter as happily as Cavice did. Prowlus wasn't the same as every other cheetah in the village. They didn't hold a grudge.
He gulped nervously as he entered the room. Instantly he took in that there were only two cheetahs in this room, Hunter and Prowlus. When the purple dragon saw Hunter, a small wave of relief washed over him, but at the sight of the head chief cheetah himself, that relief got drained.
Prowlus' expression hardened at the sight of the two dragons as he got to his feet.
"You two again?" he growled, eyes narrowed into a glare. "Why couldn't you run away like that Flare?"
The question was met with a deep growl beside Spyro. Surprised, the purple dragon turned his head to see that Cavice was the one that growled. Almost immediately, Spyro recognized the deep anger inside his eyes.
"Don't you dare say that he ran away, Prowlus," the blue dragon stated slowly, his eyes narrowed into an icy glare. "He was saving your stinking tail by not letting his anger get the best of himself."
Spyro could see that his younger brother was on the brink of launching himself at the cheetah chief, which made him greatly afraid. He had always known Cavice as the quiet, reserved one. Maybe being close to Flare all the time rubbed off on him.
Despite this, Spyro had to do something, fast.
"I think he's right Prowlus," Hunter suddenly cut in, stopping his chief from saying something that he would regret. "You know that, that young dragon has power beyond a regular dragon."
Prowlus turned a heated glare towards his most experienced warrior. "You're siding with the dragons?" he asked, the anger and surprise thick in his voice.
Hunter shook his head in reply. "There are no sides, you know that Prowlus. What there are, are allies, that worry about us and are here to help us, if you won't put aside your petty grudge against dragons – our most powerful allies – then you don't deserve to be chief!"
Spyro gulped inward, that was definitely going to make Prowlus angry. But what surprised the purple dragon was that it was Hunter that told the chief. He normally thought it would have been a dragon- preferably one of the guardians – that would've said it, not the chief's best warrior.
Spyro turned from Hunter to Prowlus, half-dreading the look on the chief's muzzle. But, instead, there was no look of anger in the chief's eyes, no bristled up fur when cheetahs get anger, not even a hint of anger over his entire body.
Instead, Prowlus looked back at Hunter, his body completely relaxed and his eyes evenly trained on the golden cheetah that was less than a metre away from him.
"Hunter," he stated somewhat calmly, the stare still there. "You are right."
The answer almost made Spyro trip over his own feet in surprise as he stared at the cheetah chief.
The chief seemed to notice the surprise on the purple dragon's muzzle but didn't say anything. Instead, he turned to Cavice who had not moved an inch from where he was.
The anger was still clearly evident over the blue dragon's expression, but with it was a mixture of surprise.
"If it wasn't for dragons, we probably wouldn't even be alive right now," Prowlus stated to Cavice, the chief's own eyes softening a bit. He held his stare on the blue dragon before turning to Spyro. "But you, you saved the entire world and made it out alive. That alone, is special." The chief cheetah, then fixed both dragons into his sight. "Dragons, I will allow you to stay in my home during this storm, but after it has finished, I want you and the other two, to help rebuild the village. Agreed?"
Spyro nodded without wasting a second, a small smile spreading across his muzzle.
But Cavice hesitated for a second before nodding slowly after his elder brother, seeing how quickly he made up his mind.
Spyro noticed the slight hesitation but didn't comment on it, there would be time for that later. Instead, he gestured with a wing to the beaded curtain where they entered.
Cavice immediately nodded once to his brother before quickly, silently padding over to the curtain and vanishing behind it.
Spyro turned back to the two cheetahs, the small smile still there.
"Thank you Prowlus, when this storm is over, we would help as much as possible," with that, the purple dragon parted the curtain with a wing and exited.
He wasn't surprised to find Cavice outside, waiting silently for him. With another small nod, the two dragons walked silently down the heavily decorated hallway.
"Spyro?" Cavice asked, turning to his brother. "How can you be so polite to him? He was acting as if we were inferior to him."
The question didn't take Spyro by surprise, he was expecting ever since he noticed the way Cavice kept glaring at Prowlus
A small sigh escaped the purple dragon's maw as he continued to allow his eyes wander the types of hide armor Prowlus had. "I dunno, Cavice. I always just expect that much from him."
He knew that wasn't the answer that Cavice was looking for, but, to be honest, he didn't know how he was able to put up with the chief cheetah's hurtful remarks.
The rest of the trip down the long hallway was filled with complete silence between the two brothers until they got back to the entrance.
Here, Spyro felt the most uneasy, the storm had really picked up from the last time they were out there. Streaks of lightning flashed across the sky, filling the air with a low booming sound and strong gusts of wind blew the few-remaining huts of the cheetah village over.
The weather was disastrous, not even the best of fliers could fly in this weather and make it out alive. Chances are if you take to the air, you'd be zapped down by a huge voltage of lightning or the powerful winds would blow you off course.
And Cynder was still out there…
Despite his best efforts, Spyro couldn't help but worry extremely deeply about his most beloved black dragoness. The purple dragon's claws dug into the damp earth bellow him as he continued to worry.
"Spyro, stressing won't help anyone," Cavice made his way beside his elder brother again as his stared out into the rain. The calm, blank expression plastered over his muzzle.
Spyro quickly glanced at the blue dragon next to him. How could he be so calm about this? He wondered in his mind before staring back out into the storm, hoping to see the familiar shape of Cynder.
Come on, Cynder. Where are you?
*.*.*
Strong gusts of wind, whipped up stray leaves, tufts of grass and water into the air. Lightning etched the sky of the Valley of Avalar, zapping trees, filling the air with a low grumbling sound. All-the-while, rain poured down on the frozen in fear form of Cynder as she stared in wide-eyed in surprise and fear at a once crimson red dragon before her.
This was bad. This was beyond bad. Here Cynder was, staring at Flare who was literally dripping in darkness. His eyes were an almost blinding white as he stared back at her, a blood-thirsty expression on his features as he took a purposely slow step forward.
Cynder had only seen this once, back in the abandoned castle where many rogue apes were living, desperately trying to get their master's alliance back. It was because of this power, that now, that same castle is now in runes and almost everyone in there, dead. Flare, barely managed to live on and is cruelly reminded of the event by the large scar over his right eye.
"Cynder," the dark dragon called, taking a small step towards the opposing dragoness, a deep snarl etched across his muzzle. "How could you betray me like that?"
"Betray?" Cynder literally spat back, meeting the dark dragon's angry gaze with her own. "I didn't betray you!"
The black dragoness knew that this was literally fuel to fire, but she was going to stick up for herself, despite how she was feeling at the moment.
"You did!" Dark Flare roared, taking another step forward. "Siding with that blasted Prowlus is a betrayal! You don't need me to repeat what he said to me!"
The dark dragon was at the brink of launching himself at the black dragoness, Cynder could pick up the way his claws scraped the dirt under every time he took a step. So what was holding him back?
Dark Flare's eyes blazed as he continued to look at the black dragoness before him, yet he didn't launch himself at her, nor did he take another step. He just stood there, his white-hot eyes continuing to stare Cynder down.
"Fine," the dark dragon suddenly said, turning away from the black dragoness and allowing his gaze to drag around the surrounding forest.
Suddenly the dragon's gaze came to a startling halt when it fell on a lone grey tree. Flare continued to stare at the tree for a minute, his muzzle scrunching into one of unmistakable anger.
"You've made your choice, Cynder," he stated, turning back to the black dragoness. "Now it's time to die."
Cynder barely had enough time to roll out of the way as the dark dragon suddenly leapt at her. As she rolled to a stop, she was forced to duck as a flamed-shaped tail blade came at her throat. Again, she rolled out of the way as a dark claw slashed at her, cutting three, deep groves into the damp dirt.
But Cynder didn't have a second to spare before she leapt to the side of another one of the dark dragon's tail blade swipes, missing her by barely an inch.
She had to do something fast. At this rate, if the black dragoness continued to dodge she'd be too tired to even fight back. She had to counter-attack, even if it does mean hurting Flare.
"Flare stop this!" was her final, feeble attempt to stop the fighting. But - as expected – Flare paid her no heed as he quickly faced the black dragoness again and charged at her, his features set in cold determination.
Cynder quickly leapt the side again, unleashing a wave of shadow fire from her maw as the dark dragon passed. This proved to be a crucial mistake because, on impact, the dark flames just became a part of the aura that continued to surround the dragon. To make things worse, Flare didn't seem all that happy about the use of elements as he turned his head back to the black dragoness, a vicious fierce-looking snarl planted on his muzzle.
Terror exploded through Cynder as the dark dragon cracked his jaws open and the dark glow of shadow flames came from his throat. The black dragoness side-stepped the wave of shadow fire and got ready to counter with wind but stopped when Flare cracked his jaws open again.
Again, Cynder nimbly was able to roll out of the way of the shadow flames before it burnt her. But, used her momentum from the roll to get to her feet before opening her jaws and unleashing a gust of wind.
A smirk of superiority came of the dark dragon's muzzle before he opened his maw again and unleashing another gust of wind.
I surprised looked came over Cynder's features as the two forces collided, combusting on themselves, blowing anything nearby away.
The force was enough to know the two dragons away a few metres but nothing else. But terror was already exploding inside Cynder.
Flare can use wind! She thought to herself as the terror inside continued to grow. But the black dragoness didn't have much time to ponder that thought because a second later, Flare was charging at her once again.
Cynder crouched down into a fighting stance as the dark dragon approached, but suddenly, something unexpected happened. As the dragon's foreleg hit the damp earth he suddenly slipped, landing muzzle-first in mud.
Cynder tried to hold back a laugh but wasn't very successful. Seconds later, she found herself laugh extremely hard, though in her mind she knew the current situation was anything but a laughing matter.
But she couldn't contain the laughter, no matter how hard she tried.
Flare got to his feet, glaring at the black dragoness before him with steel dagger.
"Stop laughing!" he roared as he ran at the black dragoness again.
But Cynder didn't, even as she barely dodged a tail blade to her head, it seemed all too hilarious to the black dragoness for a reason she could really understand.
After another near-miss to the head, Cynder immediately stopped laughing, suddenly remembering how serious the battle really was and how it even started.
But could hating Prowlus really make Flare this mad? Cynder seriously doubted it. There had to be something else.
Cynder didn't have any longer to ponder the thought before Flare let out the largest amount of shadow fire at once at her. Through reaction, she dived into the shadows to avoid the attack. Strangely, even when the black dragoness was just shadows, she could slight feel the heat that her opponent's shadow fire would've brought on her, but it didn't hurt.
When the heat suddenly stopped, Cynder knew that this was her chance. As fast as a cheetah, she sprang out from the shadows, one metre from Flare, opening her maw again and unleashed another gust of air from her maw.
Flare didn't have time to dodge before the gust of wind made contact with his right shoulder. A pained roar escaped the dark dragon's maw as he was blown back straight into a thick tree, hitting the bark with incredible force before falling to the ground limply.
Cynder cautiously stalked closer to the dark dragon, thinking that this was all some kind of trap. Only when the darkness that was surrounding Flare suddenly evaporated did the black dragoness drop her guard, releasing a sigh of relief. It was over.
The black dragoness continued to walk until she was right next to the normal crimson red dragon. But there was something wrong. Blood seeped down the cut at the back of the red dragon's head where he hit the tree, but that wasn't even close to it. She couldn't hear him breathing.
A worried looked came over Cynder's muzzle as she hesitantly moved a paw onto Flare's shoulder and shook him lightly.
"Flare, wake up," she stated quietly as she continued to shake the red dragon lightly.
No response.
As the rain continued to pick up, soaking the black dragoness under its un-ending pour, so did Cynder's dread as she stared at the limp form of Flare.
What had she done?
Yay, long-ish chapter! Again, sorry about the wait. The next chapter would probably be the normal size, hopefully it won't take as long.
Well, until next time...