Longest chapter yet. Hope you like it! Enjoy!
Chapter 7 The Darkness and the Light
Spyro awoke to see the fire had died down to just a small red ash pile. The storm seemed to have passed and the moon was up high. Spyro looked at the cave mouth to see Cynder looking at the stars. Spyro looked beside him and Nestor and Sparx were still peacefully sleeping. Spyro slowly rose up careful not to wake them and quietly walked to the cave mouth and sat beside Cynder.
"Hey Spyro",Cynder whispered in surprise.
"Hey Cynder",he responded. "How long have you been up?"
"A little before the storm passed."
"Right. So what you doing up?",Spyro asked.
"Just looking at the stars. There seems to be some stars that doesn't exist in our time. Like that one for instance."
Cynder pointed up beside the moon to a brightly twinkling star. Spyro squinted for a second then noticed what she was pointing at.
"Hmm I wonder what happened to that star?"
"Supernova most likely. Who knows, it may have already went supernova and we just hadn't noticed it yet",Cynder explained.
"Right, well I was never really good at science. Any who I going to catch a few more z's before we head off to the mountains."
"Alright I guess I better too",she responded.
Spyro walked back to his spot from before. It was still a little warm so he found it easily. He turned around and curled up, laying his head upon some nearby leaves. As he was about to close his eyes he noticed Cynder walk to him and lied beside him. Spyro smiled and closed his eyes.
When Spyro fell asleep he had a dream that made his very bones shiver. He dreamed about his past. That day.
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"What are you doing you little whelping? Finish me!",Gaul exclaimed.
Spyro gave him mean look then turned his back.
"That's what I thought. You can't do it! You are weak! And I AM STRONG!!"
Gaul leaped up with a sword in hand. Spyro turned around and looked up as he came down attempting to impale him. Spyro was barely able to dodge the attack and when Gaul's sword collided with the ground, the ground caved in sending Gaul and Spyro into the chamber below. Gaul slammed onto the round, breaking his sword in the process into three shards. Spyro fell into the very beam that was meant to bring the dark master back into the world. Spyro began to undergo changes. Gaul stood on his legs and looked into the beam at Spyro. Spyro the purple dragon was turning, turning into an evil being.
"What is going on? What force works against me?!",Gaul yelled.
Spyro walked out of the beam and was a dark being. Everything had changed about him.
"You have made the wrong mistake taking her away from me. Now you will pay for what you have done. Prepare to die Gaul!",Dark Spyro said.
Gaul began to panic. His eyes widened and he was terrified. This was the most horrifying thing he had ever seen. Dark Spyro fired a shot of convexity upon Gaul which mortally injured him from even moving. There was nothing he could do except accept his fate that he was going to die. Dark Spyro closed his eyes and began to float above the ground. His energy charged up then released into waves of darkness. Gaul screamed as the first wave hit him. His very skin was being torn apart, then the next wave. Another wave, then another. Gaul was completely disintegrated by now but Dark Spyro did not stop. The convexity waves kept going.
"What is going on down there? I can't see anything!",Cynder exclaimed.
"Spyro! You down there! Say something!",Sparx yelled.
At that time Spyro jumped up through the same hole he fell in. Sparx yelped as he saw him.
"Spyro! What has happened to you?! Get out of there!",Cynder yelled.
"I...I can't",Spyro said as he tried to break free on the powers on convexity.
Cynder leaped for Spyro. She collided with him sending them both flying out of the convexity beam. Spyro's colors immediately began to turn purple again.
"I'm sorry Cynder. I just couldn't stop."
"It's ok Spyro. We're here to help",she responded.
At that time the cave ceiling began to crumble.
"Spyro we need to get out of here! Now!",Cynder yelled.
"Just go! Leave me, I don't deserve to even live anymore!",Spyro cried.
"Oh no your not! You are coming with us!",Cynder yelled.
As the ceiling crumbled so did the hole in the ceiling.
"That was our only way out!",Sparx exclaimed.
"Oh no, what have I done!",Spyro said.
"What are you talking about Spyro! You are not responsible for any of this!"
Spyro then heard someone speaking through his mind, "Ride out this storm and live to fight another day!"
"I know what I must do! Get close to me! NOW!",Spyro exclaimed
Everyone obeyed and Spyro closed his eyes and Spyro froze them all to prevent them from being crushed underneath tons of rock.
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"Spyro wake up!",Cynder said.
"You ok Spyro? It looked like you were having a crazy dream",Nestor asked.
"Yea I suppose, more like a terrible memory though",Spyro sighed.
"Hmm, well I don't suppose you feel like talking about it. Do you?",Nestor asked.
Spyro shook his head.
"Well if you ever do want to talk about it remember that you are among friends",Nestor assured.
"Thanks Nestor",Spyro said.
"Right, well we better get going. Sunrise shall be here soon and we should get out of here before a scouting party gets here. Oh yea here's your armor",Nestor said as he handed their armor back out.
"Aw but I'm still sleepy",Sparx complained.
The group left the cave into the dark morning. Spyro was still troubled by his dream earlier and Cynder seemed to notice.
"What's wrong?",Cynder asked as she walked beside Spyro.
"Nothing. Nothing is wrong",Spyro said.
"Oh come on, don't shut me out. I know when something is troubling you. Now what is wrong?",Cynder repeated.
"Ok, I had a dream about that day I fought Gaul. It was terrible. He pleaded for mercy but I just slaughtered him. I couldn't help it. The dark powers forced me. I couldn't control it. It was terrible."
"I know what you mean. Whenever I was being forced to work for Gaul I had no control either. But it's ok now Spyro. That's all over and done with",Cynder explained.
"Ok Cynder. I guess you're right. It is over. Thanks."
Cynder smiled and Spyro thanked her by a kiss. Nestor looked back long just time to see it and smiled. Nestor shook his head then continued walking as did Cynder and Spyro.
Thirty minutes passed afterwards. There was some slight conversation but they mostly kept silent to be safe. The mountains became closer and closer and eventually they started to walk uphill to the base of the mountain. When they reached the base they saw some Gnorcs on the upcoming trail.
"Those Gnorcs could be heading toward the ice elder. What do you think?",Nestor asked.
"It's worth a shot",Spyro said.
Nestor nodded and began his sprint to the trail as did the others. The sun was coming up now put the mountain peak was preventing sunlight on their particular area so it still seemed dark. The trees seemed to thicken up as they got to the trail and the gnorcs were up ahead. Spyro hid Sparx underneath his wing as they made their way. Cynder seemed to be camouflaged in the darkness with her black scales. The gnorcs still were unaware that they were being followed. The dragons continued their mission. Ten minutes passed. The trail seemed to continue on forever, however it had gotten terribly steep. The gnorcs seemed unaffected the it and continued at a steady pace leaving Spyro and the others behind on the dark trail.
"Now what?",Sparx asked.
"Well this trail has gotta lead us somewhere right? As long as there are no forks in the road we should be fine",Spyro said.
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"Sir, we've lured the dragons onto this trail but they seemed to fall behind. Should we go back and wait for them?",the soldier said.
"No that is not necessary. They will be here soon"
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"We've been on this trail for hours, can we go back now?",Sparx complained.
"Of course not! This could be the way to the ice elder. And besides it's only been 15 minutes",Spyro said.
"It gets colder as we go up. The ice elder is most likely at the top so I'm sure we are getting somewhere",Nestor said.
"CHARGE!!!",a gnorc yelled.
"What the..!? Look out! It's an ambush!",Spyro exclaimed
The gnorc in front leaped at Spyro and swung his mace for his head. Spyro quickly lowered his head and impaled him with his horns before the gnorc could hit Spyro. Nestor unleashed a volcanic fire at a group of gnorcs charging toward him. They immediately tried to back away but it was too late. Cynder used her wind element to pick up 2 gnorcs the she slung them back from whence they came. She then shot a large glob of poison onto another gnorc which melted his skin and killed him. Spyro noticed that this plan of attack was to capture Nestor for most of the gnorcs kept charging toward him.
"Stick with Nestor everyone! They want him!",Spyro yelled.
Cynder made her way to Nestor along with Spyro. A gnorc drew his bow out and shot an arrow at Spyro. But Spyro didn't notice it in time and got shot in his shoulder. Spyro yelped in pain and shot and counterattacked with an earth shot which collided with the bowman, crushing his cranium and killing him. Four more gnorcs charged toward the group. Spyro unleashed a lightening bolt onto one which arced to the one beside him, sending enough voltage through their bodies to make their dead bodies smoke. Cynder breathed a shadow fire at the gnorc charging toward her. The shadows engulfed the gnorc and fell to the ground holding his throat as if he was choking. Nestor shot a fireball onto the last gnorc, but yet it didn't stop him. He was still coming. Spyro expanded his wings a blizzard blew toward the gnorc, freezing him in place. Another group of gnorcs charged towards them, five of them now.
"Cynder!",Spyro yelled.
"Yea!",She responded.
"You ready!?",he asked.
"Ready for what?!",she exclaimed
Spyro gave her a look which she had seen in the past a couple of times. Remembering what that look meant she responded, "Yea! Let's do this!"
Spyro and Cynder ran in front of Nestor and suddenly an explosion type noise was heard. Spyro and Cynder were glowing and ran to the charging gnorcs. The gnorcs were startled but didn't stop. Spyro opened his mouth and unleashed a purple beam through the gnorc in front leaving a massive hole in his chest. Cynder shot another beam through a gnorcs head. One the gnorcs attempted to beat Spyro in his head with a mace, but failed when Spyro dodged the attack with blazing speed, then ripped the gnorc to shreds with his claws. Cynder ran up to the last two with her wings outstretched. She ran too fast for the gnorcs to notice her attack. Her wings. The spikes at the end impaled the last two gnorcs then was finished off when Cynder and Spyro shot beams through them.
"I think that's the last of them",Spyro said as his and Cynder's glow died down.
"Aw just when I was starting to have some fun",Cynder giggled then noticed Spyro's injury. "Spyro! Your shoulder!"
"Bah it's quite alright! The armor took most of it."
Cynder examined the arrow and it seemed Spyro was correct. The armor did take most of it but it still punctured it just enough to put a small hole in Spyro. Cynder pulled out the arrow and Spyro yelped. Cynder then pulled some nearby grass out and wrapped it around Spyro's shoulder.
"Hopefully that will hold long enough for us to get back to Artisan",Cynder said.
Spyro and Cynder made there way back to Nestor who's mouth was obviously agape.
"What",Cynder said.
"Nothing. So anything new you wanna talk about?",Nestor asked.
"Uh, no, not really",Cynder said.
"We were attacked by gnorcs",Sparx said as he crawled back out of the bush he was hiding in.
"Oh there you are",Spyro said.
"I know that!",Nestor said.
"Then why did you ask?",Sparx said.
"You mean what we did",Spyro said.
"Exactly!"
"It's called dragon fury. It's a special ability we can use during battle. But we can only use it frequently",Cynder answered.
"Ok so lets get back to finding the ice elder. If there were gnorcs up here the ice elder is bound to be nearby. Lets continue up the path",Nestor suggested.
The dragons continued up the trail for a few more minutes. There was a sudden drop in temperature, but they continued onward.
"I think I see a clearing",Spyro said.
Nestor looked ahead to see there was indeed a clearing. They hurried up the pace to it. When they exited the trail, they saw a big crystal dragon sitting on ground.
"That's him! We found him! Spyro I believe your the only one here who can free him. So if you would",Nestor said.
"No problem",Spyro responded.
Spyro walked over to the crystallized dragon. He examined it, then carefully placed his paw on his side. Suddenly the crystal started glowing, then it began to shake breaking into pieces. Then there was a bright light, then the sound of shattering. When the light disappeared Spyro saw the ice dragon which almost looked like Cyril from his time but was a little bigger. The ice dragon coughed.
"Thank you young dragon for freeing me! I am in your debt. My name is Cyrus. I assume you came here through the time portal me and the others made."
"Yes I did",Spyro responded.
"What is your name?",Cyrus asked.
"My name is Spyro. The black dragon here is Cynder, the dragonfly is Sparx, and the green dragon here is Nestor."
"Oh I know of Nestor. Your Blazes son am I correct?"
"Yes I am",Nestor responded.
"Where is Blaze at? I have much to speak with him about."
"I'm afraid I don't know. You see, he was crystallized like the rest of you and your actually the first dragon we have freed",Nestor responded.
"Ah so there is much work to be done. Come, I will take you back to Artisan so you may rest and and continue your search",Cyrus said.
Cyrus walked toward the mountains edge then leaped as he flapped his wings into the air. The others followed his example.
