Chapter Eight: Death for Love
The ocean's current came to a rest among the diamond-like sand while the sun began to settle among the western horizon, Spyro knew this could be the last time he would see the ocean's beauty. The water rippled and flowed with the tide as the water pushed gracefully through the rocks and crevices which littered the farther regions of the beach. The setting sun made the clouds glow with orange and purple pigments as Spyro forced himself to not look back towards the darkened clouds among the rest of the land. The seagulls chimed their frequent tune with time while the water lay restfully among its own body, smooth and delicately it surfaced across rock formations. Spyro was reminded of Cynder everywhere he looked; the beauty of the nature surrounding him only brought sensitive memories to his mind as he said to himself, "Why is this happening to me?"
"Because the Dark Energy is feeding off of your emotions, just like what happened to me." Cynder's voice sung from behind him as he jumped from his resting spot in excitement.
"Cynder, what are you doing here, you should be resting at Warfang." Spyro said, excited to see Cynder standing before him.
"I overheard the Guardians talking about you," Cynder started. "Spyro, you need to harness the Convexity inside of you before it takes control of you, or else the Guardians will kill you. They don't want to have another loss like they had with Malefor. I'm with you every step of the way, if you ever need anything, I'll always be here for you because I love you." Cynder's lips fell upon Spyro's quickly like a bee on a rose which made Spyro's senses blare with electricity.
As their kiss broke, Spyro looked to here with grief and said, "Cynder, please, I couldn't control myself. I was trying to fight it; I really thought I could harness it. This Dark Energy, it feeds off of me, gnaws at my emotions, especially anger. When I see Tyrant close to you I just come undone, jealously no doubt. Please Cynder; please forgive me even though you said you never would."
"Spyro, I know something isn't right about Tyrant, I can feel the darkness from him to. You need to watch yourself around him. I need to get going back to Warfang and tell everyone where you are, are you going to be ok by yourself?" Cynder asked as she placed her right paw over Spyro's.
"Yes, right now I just really want to find Malefor, put an end to all of this madness, with you by my side." Spyro said with a shy filled smile. Cynder could only smile with joy as she took flight back towards Warfang. As Spyro knew the ties between him and Cynder would only become stronger, he heard a dragon land behind him.
"I knew you would show up, puny dragon." Malefor's voice was heard while still in the form of Tyrant.
"Malefor, you scum, is your mind so fried that you have to taunt me and Cynder to the grave?" Spyro said with his head hung low, streaked with rage.
"Oh Spyro, this is only the beginning, you will soon see what holds for this world after your death." Malefor taunted, smirking as he paced around Spyro.
"Why can't you just accept there is more to life than just violence, haven't you ever wondered what it was like?" Spyro asked, hoping to catch Malefor monologuing and maybe try to get some information from him about why and how he returned.
"Spyro, the world revolves around violence and corruption," Malefor started. "When one gains power, power will always corrupt. It's like an addiction; you want more every time you have it. Even you have a taste for the Dark Energy built inside of you, I've seen it. You and I Spyro, we are the same."
"I'll be nothing like you, all you wanted was to destroy the world, bring upon the end of millions of lives, I don't believe in that!" Spyro roared.
"Spyro you have to believe me, who would you rather lose, Cynder or the entire world?" Malefor said, trying to bring upon the Dark Energy in Spyro.
"You spit the most obvious lies Malefor, you dare to tear away the one I love from me," Spyro spat. "Could you be possibly any more stupid?"
Malefor smirked as he said, "Spyro, is intelligence stupid now? My goal was to bring a lawless world to this land, a new beginning for life. My existence is to purge this land to an era of darkness like the one so long ago; do you know the legend of Cripyro young dragon?" Spyro shook his head.
"Very well, a swift tale of our ancestors before you join them," Malefor stated. "Long ago, there was a war that raged on for centuries, the Dark Days as they were named. The war was fought over the ruler of the world between dragons and land dwellers. During the final days, a legendary dragon fell from the Celestial moons. The dragon was in fact the first purple dragon among time, Cripyro. She liberated the world from the violence, a world which was fought with Dark Energy. The dragoness sealed the power away into crystals which I managed to find and use for my forces of darkness. The Destroyer was created by our ancestors in that war to bring upon the enemy's doom by the use of Dark Magic. You see now Spyro? Our ancestors have nothing but a bloody reputation, your slate is no cleaner than the next purple dragon in line."
"Shut up, I don't believe in that Malefor, I'd rather die before I see this world turn upon itself!" Spyro roared as he let the Dark Energy from his body flow across his scales.
"As you wish you annoying little speck!" Malefor roared as the two dragons charged at one another. Spyro knew he would have the upper hand in terms of speed and agility, but knew his power was no match for Malefor's. As Spyro saw Malefor's tale blade fling forward, he ducked just as the razor extension missed the side of Spyro's head. Spyro used his ice element to fling razor sharp icicles towards Malefor only to be stopped by Malefor's sturdy wings. As Spyro leaped in the air towards Malefor, Spyro was hit by a bolt of electricity by Malefor's electricity element. Thousands of volts surged through Spyro's body as Malefor threw him into a pile of small boulders, shattering them instantly.
Spyro groaned in pain as dust and debris floated among him. "Come now young dragon, I know there's a lot of fight left in you." Malefor taunted as Spyro noticed him walking through the debris. Spyro's body grew tense with rage as he regained his footing.
"Is this all you got Malefor, I've seen tougher Grublins!" Spyro taunted, trying to throw Malefor off focus. As Spyro gathered his concentration, he waited until Malefor's silhouette drew near before unleashing a beam of Dark Energy. As the dust thinned and the debris faded, Spyro looked frantically for Malefor's body; no sign of him was traceable.
"It's over Spyro." Malefor grinned from behind as he grabbed Spyro's tail with his mouth and threw him against another group of boulders, this time much larger than the ones before. Pain of great density streaked through Spyro's body as Malefor yelled, "You're weak, weak like Ignitus, like Sparx, like Cynder!" Spyro became infuriated beyond what anyone could imagine. Spyro wanted to end Malefor's life slowly and painfully without the use of Dark Energy.
As Malefor drew closer to Spyro's mangled body, Spyro dashed towards the evil dragon, horns parallel with his body as Spyro hoped to make contact. Malefor managed to grab hold of Spyro's horns however and throw him against a nearby coconut tree. The force from the impact knocked several coconuts loose as they fell harmlessly away from the still dazed Spyro. "Malefor, why did you lose control of yourself, why did you let the darkness take you over? The people worshipped you for a greater cause, a cause for peace. Why did you throw that away?" Spyro said, still gasping for air.
"Spyro, I didn't lose myself, I chose to be this way." Malefor said without smirking or trying to intimidate Spyro as he stood well enough in range to finish Spyro. "No matter how many shadows you erase, there will always be darkness while there is still a light burning. It's all part of nature Spyro."
"Then I will become an icon of justice, a peacemaker for this land," Spyro uttered as he struggled to stand. "My name is Spyro, and my quest is to bring peace!" Spyro roared as he stood from his former laying position. Tense, sore muscles clinched tightly as Spyro finally regained his focus, the Dark Energy swept away from Spyro's body as Spyro knew that there was more to life than living in anger. Spyro lowered his head and spread his legs apart.
Spyro bared his sharp, white teeth as he said, "Malefor, I may die today; but at least I will be remembered as the purple dragon who sought to destroy the evil which clinched this land in a vice of darkness."
"You've made your choice then young dragon, you ready to die?" Malefor intimidated as he lowered his head even with Spyro's. Lightning flashed high above the pair as they charged at one another. Their horns interlocked as they broke free from one another. Spyro lashed downward with his right paw as Malefor used his left arm to throw Spyro off balance. As Spyro stumbled, Malefor lashed with his tail blade with extreme force. Spyro grabbed Malefor's tail, seconds before impact and used his tail to pull himself into the evil dragon for a talon swipe.
As Spyro felt his talons rake across Malefor's face, the evil dragon slammed his head into Spyro's sending him into a daze. Spyro's vision was blurred as he saw Malefor lunge with his right paw, talons erect to one another. Spyro managed to use his left horn to throw the attack off balance as Spyro whipped his body around, making his tail blade slash through Malefor's chest scales and into flesh. Black blood protruded from the open wound as Spyro used the momentum from his twist to slam his fist into Malefor's jaw with a large among of force. Spyro saw two of Malefor's teeth break away as Spyro made an upward swipe towards Malefor, talons ready to slice through the soft tissue below Malefor's chin.
Malefor barely managed to move his head away from Spyro's talons as he struggled to keep pace with Spyro's agility as he used his wings to shield himself from Spyro's flame breath. As Spyro knew that forward attacks would be useless, he reached for Malefor's tail and whipped him into the closest boulder group he could find. Dust and small bits of rock flew awry as Spyro drew near to inspect his opponent. Spyro could hear moaning as he knew it was a sign of weakness. Spyro thought Malefor was seriously injured and began to say, "Are you finished yet?" when suddenly, Malefor came charging out of the smoke, to swift for Spyro to react as he felt one of Malefor's horns drive deep into Spyro's lower right chest.
Pain streaked over Spyro's body as Malefor whipped his head to be rid Spyro from his horn which sent more pain through Spyro's body. As Spyro caught himself from slamming into the ground by digging his legs into the sand, he stood facing Malefor with pain ricocheting through his gut. Blood poured from the open hole in his lower chest onto the sand as Spyro placed his left paw over the open wound to stop the bleeding. As his vision blurred while his head began to spin, Spyro stumbled to the sand, breathing heavily as he tried to cease the pain.
Malefor chuckled to Spyro's defeat as he said, "That should kill you for too long, I've been waiting for this day for far too long."
"No, I can still fight. You won't hurt her you scum." Spyro said, coughing blood as he fell toward his side.
"There's no reason to fight Spyro, your time is over." Malefor taunted as he placed his right paw on top of Spyro's head as he ran his paw over to the left side of Spyro's face.
"You're going to die Malefor; I hope it's me who delivers the final blow." Spyro said, closing his left eye as Malefor's paw drew near.
"I've heard about enough of your useless rant." Malefor said in anger as he dug his claws deep into Spyro's face and slashed sideways toward his chin. Spyro howled in pain as Malefor turned towards Warfang and said in a mocking tone, "Don't worry about Cynder, she's in good hands with me now.
"Come back here Malefor." Spyro sputtered as he knew there was nothing he could do to stop him. The beach, once the place of relaxation and peace turned into Spyro's final resting place. The warmth of his own blood being pumped through the three slashes down his face only brought grief to Spyro as the pain from them seemed to throb all over his body. Unable to move due to the blaring pain stretching from his gut to his head, Spyro did the only thing he could do; rest with the thought of Cynder swimming through his mind.
