Chapter 7

Everyone snapped out of the trance to look directly at Spyro and Iseras. The twin brothers looked at each other and readied themselves for the bombardment of questions that were to come. Before anyone could speak up, a blinding light filled the room, but quickly faded. Everyone looked around confused until Cynder noticed that there was another dragon in the room, and he looked like Iseras before he was killed. "Oh my god! Look at Iseras!" All eyes turned to the light blue dragon standing next to Spyro. He was the exact same height as Spyro, but the cloak that he normally wore was gone. "Wow. So that's your true form." "It is." Iseras's voice was a little higher in pitch, but still easily recognizable. His eyes had also changed from emerald green to sapphire blue. Then the bombardment began. "Whoa-whoa-whoa! One at a time!" Cynder started first saying "Did you commit suicide Spyro?" Spyro replied "Yes I did. I couldn't live without my brother." Next Cyril spoke up "Who was the Assassin?" "I don't know. I never got a look of his face, but his energy was familiar." Next was Flame's question "Who are Karra and Jarad?" "They are Iseras's and my first mother and father. Karra was an Ascended, while Jarad was a Fallen." Next was Volteer "Who are the Fallen?" "The Fallen are a mystery. No one knows who they truly are." Before anyone could inquire more, a messenger mole ran up to the Guardians.

After conveying his message, the Guardians traveled to Warfang, leaving Spyro, Cynder, and Iseras at the Temple. It was late and they went to bed. Unbeknownst to them, Malefor ordered a raid at the Temple to take Spyro, Cynder, and Iseras. The apes crept into the Temple and reached Cynder's room first. Before she could wake, they bound her muzzle, legs, and wings, and dragged her off. More reached Spyro's room, but he woke up before they could bind him. He tried to fight back, but got clubbed in the side of the head, and was knocked out. He too, was bound and dragged off. Finally was Iseras. They bound him, but he woke up while being dragged. He desperately tried to get free, but received a blow to the head, and was knocked out.

When they awoke, they found themselves in a cell. "Ugh. Where are we?" asked Iseras, still a little dazed from the blow. "The dungeon in Malefor's lair. You have been out for three days." replied Cynder. Then the door opened and the three of them jumped up in alarm. Malefor walked into the cell followed by two apes to evaluate his prizes. His gaze held on Iseras for a second before he began "Good. You captured Spyro and Cynder, but who is the third? And where is Jonathan?" "My lord, we found this dragon at the Temple, but Jonathan was nowhere to be seen." Malefor again looked at Iseras and asked "What is your name?" "Iseras" he replied coldly. Malefor laughed evilly then pointed at Spyro. "Take him to the Chamber and prepare him." The apes advanced on Spyro, before Iseras moved in between them. "Don't touch him." growled Iseras. The apes looked at him questioningly before drawing their weapons and advancing again. Iseras blocked one blow and stabbed the ape through the chest. The ape fell, but more appeared to take his place. The ape was dragged off, and the fight began. 20 apes appeared and attacked, but were continuously repelled. The fighting continued for a few more minutes until Malefor called them off. The apes retreated a few steps and a few dragged the dead and injured away, but several stayed ready to attack. "Don't resist." "I will not let you lay a paw on my brother!" spat Iseras, now covered in the blood of those he killed. "Brother?" Malefor growled upon hearing this. "Only Jonathan was Spyro's brother." "Jonathan is a name in one of my lives, but Iseras is my true name." Again Malefor growled, but this time pinned Iseras to the ground. He tried his hardest to get free and come to his brother's aid, but was held too firmly and was forced to watch helplessly as the apes dragged Spyro away. Malefor released Iseras who just laid there distraught with his head drooping on the ground, trying his hardest not to cry. Malefor took one last look back, smiling evilly at the form of Iseras on the ground. Once the door closed behind him, Cynder ran to Iseras's side to try to comfort him. She was about to say something when Spyro's scream of pain came tearing through the halls and Iseras couldn't help but break down upon hearing his brother in pain but unable to do anything to help. Cynder too, cried, for she loved him and did not want to see him hurt. This went on for several hours until it finally came to an end.

Spyro was dragged by the apes to a room. Inside, there were all sorts of devices that were obviously used for torture. He was strapped into a large wheel, and a short time later, Malefor arrived. "Now we can begin." Spyro was too afraid to ask what Malefor meant. He only watched as Malefor dipped his claws in some kind of liquid, presumably poison. Malefor then stabbed Spyro in the hindleg, causing Spyro to scream in unimaginable pain. Malefor continued to stab Spyro with poison, break his bones, cut, and burn Spyro. Spyro continued to scream as he was tortured by Malefor until he finally quit. Spyro was released and dragged back to the cell, barely conscious.

When Spyro was returned, Cynder sobbed uncontrollably and Iseras roared in rage. They threw Spyro into the cell and slammed the door before Iseras could attack them. They walked over to Spyro and moved him, gently, to a pile of hay at the corner of the room. Cynder continued to cry as she saw the shape Spyro was in. Most of his bones were broken, he was cut in several places, some so deep the bone showed and his wings and body had burns all over. "He's alive, but barely. Cynder, turn around and cover your ears." After she stopped crying she asked "What are you going to do?" "I am going to reset his bones so that I can heal him." Cynder covered her ears, but did not turn around. With sickening cracks, Iseras reset every bone that was broken. When he looked at Cynder, her face was almost a ghostly white. "That's why I asked you to turn around. I didn't want you to see that." Iseras the returned to Spyro and placed his paws on Spyro. The paws started glowing and an aura of light shimmered around Iseras and Spyro. Slowly but surely, all of the wounds closed and all of the bones healed. The aura disappeared and Spyro woke up. "Uuuhhhh. How am I alive?" "I healed you brother. I couldn't let you suffer and die." A sound came from the door, but Iseras laid a paw on Spyro. "Stay still. You're supposed to be unconscious." The door opened, and Malefor walked through with several apes. "Come with me Cynder." The apes close in on Cynder, and she uses her tail blade to decapitate two apes before she is bound and dragged off. The bodies are dragged away, and Spyro and Iseras cry when they hear Cynder's shriek of pain and terror rip through the halls.

Cynder was dragged into the Chamber. The first thing she noticed among the torture devices was a device that was almost shaped like a bed. She was dragged there and chained to the "bed" belly down and was left alone, but not for long. Malefor entered, carrying a sadistic smile on his face. He climbed on the top of her and said "You're not going to enjoy this." and began to have his way. Cynder shrieked in pain and terror as she was subjected to this particularly sick and twisted torture. After he finished, he chained her up on the wall and continued to torture her in different ways. A great many hours later, he dragged her shattered body back to the cell and threw her in.

After the cell door closed, Spyro and Iseras rushed to Cynder's side. The first thing that hit their noses was the heavy male scent. "DAMN YOU MALEFOR, YOU SICK BASTARD!" roared Iseras with all of his might. After relieving himself of his fury, Iseras healed Cynder and manipulated her poison so that she wouldn't fall gravid (pregnant) with any of Malefor's offspring. After Cynder opened her eyes, she cried in Spyro's shoulder after being brutally raped and tortured. The door opened again and Malefor walked in. Iseras roared in pure rage and launched himself at Malefor, only to find himself in the grip of Malefor's jaws. He tied to escape, but Malefor's hold on him was too great, and Malefor left.

Iseras was chained to a wall in the Chamber, and was forced to wait while Malefor readied his tools for the torture. When his back was turned, Iseras yanked one of his demolition devices off of his belt (only Iseras can see the belt), armed it, and dropped it on the floor. It rolled under one of the torture devices and disappeared from view. Malefor turned around and began to systematically slice, stab, inject, and in general torture Iseras in every way possible and listen to him scream in pain. After the sun had risen on the horizon, Malefor stopped and took Iseras back to his cell. "I must admit I am impressed Iseras. You stayed conscious the whole time." Malefor laughed evilly and threw him back into the cell. "Now for the reason I am torturing all of you. I am breaking you. Once your will is broken, you will submit to the darkness." Malefor laughed evilly and left them. Iseras healed himself and moved to the others. "We need to get out of here. Anyone have any bright ideas?" They all settled down and pondered their escape. They soon fell asleep.

A week later they still had not come up with a doable escape plan. The cell door opened and several apes came in. Despite the scuffling, the apes dragged Spyro away for another round of torture. Iseras and Cynder continued to plan and tried their best not to listen to Spyro's screaming. When Spyro was returned, he again had more cuts, stabs, breaks, gashes, but something else was there as well. When Iseras caught the male scent he turned green and said "I'm going to be sick!" He ran to a far corner and vomited. He returned and carefully used his fire breath to burn away the scent. "That is sick and disturbing! I underestimated the techniques Malefor would use. I am so going cut off his organ when I get the chance and shove it up where it doesn't belong." growled Iseras as he healed Spyro's other injuries. "I agree. Let me get a crack at him too." "Not to mention disgusting. I would have thought even Malefor higher than that." They continued to plan their escape as the routine continued. They collected Cynder and their dead comrades, and Iseras and Spyro continued to plan and try to ignore the screams of Cynder's torture. With her return, Iseras gives her the same treatment he gave his brother and again manipulated her poison element to prevent her from falling gravid. Then it was Iseras's turn. It took a small army to drag him away, and the bodies were collected. Spyro and Cynder continued while Iseras was being tortured. When he returned, he burst himself into flames before Spyro or Cynder could smell him and healed himself "Are you hurt?" "Only my dignity."

"So, this why you all are not injured. Thanks for letting me see." Everyone whirled around to see Malefor standing with a large group of apes behind him. "Take them to the special cells. You will never escape." The apes overpowered the trio and dragged them to a cell where there were dark gems lining the walls. They were thrown in and immediately, they felt weak as the dark gems sapped their strength. "I feel so weak." "That's because the dark gems drain your elemental strength." Realization on Iseras once he heard that. "That means I won't be able to heal you guys, or myself." For the next three weeks, they were taken away and tortured, but they never broke, and their escape plan was nearly finished. Three days before the plan was launched, Spyro was returned, but with a major difference. Where his right wing was supposed to be, there was only a bloody stump. Malefor had cut Spyro's wing off. "My god!" Iseras and Cynder rushed to Spyro's side. "Can't you stop the bleeding?" Iseras looked all over his body and finally found what he was looking for. On his right forepaw, was one of his pistols, refitted for a dragon. It still had a small charge in it. "I am going to try to cauterize the wound. It will stop the bleeding." Iseras aimed the pistol and raised his middle talon. A small beam shot out of the pistol and cauterized the wound. The blood stopped flowing and Spyro regained consciousness ten minutes later, while Cynder was being tortured. Three days later, they set their plan into motion.

Iseras plucked a charge off of his side belt and placed it near the cell door. He pressed a button and the device began to flash, indicating that it was armed. He pressed another button, and the light began to flash rapidly four times, then quit for a second, then start over. The trio took cover at the far end of the cell. With a resounding boom that left them all temporarily deaf, the charge went off with the explosive force of fifty pounds of C-4. The door and parts of the wall were blown away and Iseras motioned for Spyro and Cynder to follow. They dashed out of the cell and raced for the exit and their freedom.

Malefor was in the torture chamber readying it for his next round of torture when he heard a distinctive boom. He sent the apes to check, and another noise. It was a beeping sound. He followed the noise, and fished out an object from under one of his devices. It looked like a small hexagon, with four buttons on the side, and one button on the bottom of the face. A small red light was blinking from four corners of it. 'Ding' the device exploded and several others about the room did as well, sending Malefor flying through a wall into another chamber, the flames following him.

As the trio ran from the apes that were chasing them, Iseras suddenly shouted "Stop!" Everyone slammed on their brakes and Spyro and Cynder looked at Iseras quizzically. Before they could ask, another explosion tore though the lair, and Malefor went flying through a wall and crashed through another wall into the room across where he was from. The trio had wicked grins on their faces when they realized that Malefor's torture chamber was littered with those charges. They ran out of the lair and bolted for the forest as fast as their legs could carry them.

Malefor got up from the nasty surprise that he received. He was singed all over, and had a nasty burn on the side of his face. He saw that where there was once a torture chamber, there was now a smoking crater. When he got down to the cell, he saw that there was writing on the wall. It read:

Evil gets what evil does

You've made the biggest mistake anyone could make Malefor

You've made this PERSONAL

Malefor was so enraged that he sent his best agent to find Spyro, Cynder, and Iseras and kill them.

In a small clearing, Spyro, Cynder, and Iseras settled down to sleep. "Cynder?" "What is it Spyro?" "I-I wanted to tell you something. Something I should have said a long time ago. I love you Cynder. I couldn't bear to lose you." "Oh Spyro, I love you too." Cynder cried. They settled down together and drifted off to sleep, happier than they had ever been before. 'Good for you brother. She is the One for you.' thought Iseras before he too drifted off to sleep.

A resounding crack woke them up abruptly. It was dawn, and there was just enough light to see the forest. Evil laughter sent shivers down everyone's spines and they looked around desperately for the source. They got into a battle stance when they heard "You can't fight what you can't see." Again evil laughter resounded through the forest and Cynder gasped in pain when she received a kick in the gut. She collapsed on the ground but was unable to get back up from the pain. Spyro tried to anticipate where this unknown attacker would come from, but only received several blows and also fell to the ground. "Two down, one to go." Iseras stood perfectly still and closed his eyes. The attacker (he dubbed Chameleon) approached Iseras and tried to jab him in the side, only be blocked by Iseras's tail blade! The Chameleon tried again, but again his attacked was blocked! "How are you doing this? You can't see me!" "I don't have to see you to fight. I can hear every step you take, and I can smell you." Iseras suddenly lunged and snapped the Chameleon's arm. The Chameleon screamed in pain, which was abruptly cut off as he was engulfed by a light beam fired from Iseras at point-blank range. Spyro and Cynder got to their feet and walked over to Iseras, who was panting after that attack. They congratulated him but stopped in alarm when Iseras gasped in pain and fell, grasping at his right side. They stood there as Iseras grunted and wreathed in pain before he screamed out, and stopped moving, giving only shallow breaths and occasionally groaning. Cynder placed Iseras on Spyro's back, carefully avoiding the cauterized stump, and they raced off to the temple.

To be continued…