The following day, Cynder found herself once again in her classrooms. As she struggled through the previous boring classes she finally stepped inside her Literature class, which was taught by Cyril. Normally Cynder would hate this class as they were forced to read stories that she often found both boring and sleep inducing, but she would admit this wasn't always the case, which was why this class was higher up on her list of boring classes.
Setting her satchel down beside her, Cynder waited for class to start. "Hey Cynder." a voice called from her left. Glancing over, Cynder saw Emory standing beside her with a faint smile on his face.
"Oh, hello Emory." Cynder looked at Emory puzzled. It was unusual for the blue dragon to just say hello to her. Normally he would do something that would irritate her, like trying to get her to go out with him. "Can I help you?"
Emory seemed to have enjoyed her asking this as his smile grew slightly larger. "You haven't seen Spyro around have you? I need to talk to him for a moment."
Cynder thought about it, recalling all of the classes he shares with her. "He was in my History class, but I haven't seen him anywhere else today."
A disappointed look started to overtake Emory's faint cheerful expression. "I see... Thank you." Emory then left, taking the free seat a few rows down, again confusing Cynder. Both seats beside her were open and on most days like this she would have groaned as he sat down beside her. She watched as he laid his head down on top of his desk a sorrowful look in his eyes.
Cynder wasn't sure why, but she felt kind of bad for him again. She has known him to be always so cheerful, even when she rejected his attempts at getting her to go out with him. Something was wrong with Emory, and she felt like she should ask him what the problem was but before she could get up from her desk to talk to him, Cyril walked into the classroom.
"Everyone take out your books and turn to the page we left off on." Their instructor announced to the class. Almost everyone did as instructed other then Cynder of course who was still pondering over what to do about Emory. The class went by quickly, not that Cynder noticed.
"Cynder if you would be so kind and read aloud the next paragraph?" Cyril said finally addressing her. Cynder had been too lost in thought to realize the passage of time. She didn't move or even acknowledged the professor's presences as she was still lost in thought about Emory. She was growing increasingly worried about him. But why was that, she thought. This Dragon means nothing to her, so why would she-
"Cynder!" Cyril's shouted, his voice echoing throughout the stone walls, snapping the black dragoness from her thoughts. "If you wish to daydream, save it for when you're outside of this class. Until then I implore you to focus."
Cynder felt like hiding away when she noticed that half of the class room was staring at her. A slight hint of pink formed beneath her dark scales as embarrassment washed over her. "R-right, um, what page are we on again?"
Half the class started to giggle and laugh both at Cynder's absent mindlessness and the look of rage on Cyirl's face. Their teacher had to take a calming deep breath before he spoke, not wanting to shout more at his student.
"Cynder, if you would please turn to page 152, and read aloud the first paragraph." He said through while gritting his teeth. Not wishing to get into more trouble from the instructor Cynder flipped through the pages and stood out and began to read the following.
I took a step back, pure horror and shock running through my veins like adrenaline circling my mind. I couldn't believe the sight before me. Ardule, the dragon I thought was my best friend, loomed over the body of his most recent murder. "Why?" I squeaked. Ardule only stared back at me, as if thinking how he should answer. I felt like running, away from him, from the monster that had taken the form of my best friend. It all made sense, all of the clues I have gathered, they didn't make any sense up till now, all pointing towards him. He was the killer I had been searching for all this time. It felt like torture when he finally spoke.
Cynder looked back up at the class after finishing and saw a smile on Cyril's face. "Now then Cynder, would you care to explain what was significant about this moment in the story?" asked Cyril.
Cynder returned a blank stare at her instructor, the cogs in her mind spinning as they looked for an answer. She blinked a few times before looking back down at the story, skimming through it. 'Why was this part important?' she wondered. All that happened was that the main character realized that the person she thought was her friend was hiding a dark secret. Then it suddenly clicked in her head.
"The reason this moment was significant to the story was because it is the moment of realization for Basal. Through about half of this book she has been searching high and low for the killer, when in reality he was beside her all along." Cynder stated to the class.
Cyril smiled proudly to see that Cynder was on the right track. "Go on." he instructed, wanting her to tell him more.
"She is having the moment of change. Where the one she trusted with her life is now the one she has been hunting down. It is this change that makes this moment so important because her mind is thrown into a reality where things were not as they seemed to be, and if I had to guess the other half of this story will focus on her trying to make sense of this truth while still focusing on her goal of catching the killer."
Just before Cyril could say something a sound of a loud gong rang out through the hallways, signaling that class was over. Just as his students started to stand up Cyril shouted, "Don't forget, you are all to read the rest of the book by the end of the month."
But Cynder wasn't really listening to him, as common in any of his classes. She quickly gathered her things and stuffed them into her bag. As she left the classroom, she tried to search for Emory. Despite her hateful feelings towards him, the irritating itch in the back of her mind was telling her that she needed to find out what was wrong with him. However, as she left the classroom, she could not find him anywhere.
Emory walked down the hallways, his head low to the ground. The sorrow of failure was the typhoon that raged in his mind. Though while in this state, he still kept an eye out for a particular dragon. "Spyro, there you are!" Emory said in delight just as he noticed the red dragon walking by.
"Hm?" Spyro was caught slightly off guard by the sudden shouting of his name, pulling him out of whatever thoughts he was thinking. "Oh, what do you want Emory?" he asked the approaching ice dragon.
Emory got straight to the point. "Can you teach me how to fight?"
"What?!" Spyro asked by the sudden question. He noticed a look of determination in his eyes, as Emory spoke again.
"I want you to show teach me how to fight as well as you do. I watched you fight and take down those three murders with such ease. Please, show me how to fight." Emory was practically begging Spyro at this point.
"Look no offence, but I have more important things to do then help you with that." Spyro said calmly before walking down the hallway. Emory was not satisfied with his answered and followed him.
"Oh, come on, it's not like it will take long; I'm a fast learner." Emory stated.
"But that doesn't change how busy I am." Spyro replied.
"Well maybe I could help you? You know, I scratch your back you scratch mine." Emory offered.
Spyro seemed to think this over for a moment before answering "I'm sorry Emory, but I do not think there's anything you can do to help me."
"How would you know? Why don't you tell me what is keeping you so busy?" Emory asked persistently.
Spyro stopped and quickly faced the ice dragon beside him. "Look my answer is still no. Why can't you except tha-"
"Because I don't want to be weak anymore!" Emory shouted, cutting Spyro off mid-sentence. There was a sense of pleading and need in Emory's voice. Looking around briefly, Spyro noticed that several other students were murmuring to themselves as they walked past the two. He couldn't help but let out a grunt before stepping aside, motioning a wing, silently telling Emory to follow him. As Spyro walked away, Emory felt a ping of joy spark in his brain. Not wanting to fall behind, Emory quickly caught back up to Spyro how took him to the open courtyard that laid in the middle of the school.
The area had a soothing and peaceful atmosphere to it, from the single large pine tree that stood in the middle, to the sky light that radiated light from above. Spyro came to a stop just under the tree, while Emory stood in front of him anxious to what Spyro had in mind for him. Spyro had a look on his face that seemed like he was in deep thought, all the while he began to tap a claw at a slow rhythm. And there Emory waited patiently for Spyro do something. And he waited, and waited, and waited.
The sound of Spyro's tapping was interrupted for a moment by the sound of a gong, signaling the students that class has begun. Emory noticed for a split second that the leaves in the tree shook for just a moment, as if something or someone was moving along the branches. However, he figured it was just a bird and thought nothing more of it. Spyro and Emory continued to stay motionless, however it was at this point where Emory figured that he should speak.
"So, are you going to teach me anything or not?" He asked slightly confused by what Spyro was doing. "Not to be rude, I mean."
"I never said I was going to train you." Spyro replied calmly continuing to tap his claw.
"Then why did you bring me over here?" Emory protested, an irritated look clearly present in his eyes. He was already going to get into trouble for skipping class. He didn't want his efforts to go to waste.
Spyro didn't respond and continued to just tap away at the stone bricks that laid on the ground. All the while Emory stared back at the red dragon, waiting for him to do or say something. Spyro on the other hand kept his gaze elsewhere, looking at any other place then towards Emory. They sat there waiting more and more for one of them to speak or leave. But Emory was determined to get Spyro to teach him, even if it was just a little.
"Nice weather we are having today." Spyro stated out of the blue still looking away from the ice dragon.
Emory took a moment to stay quiet before saying, "Yep." A slight awkward feel started to build around the room as the two of them crept into silence once again. The only sound one of them made was that tapping sound from Spyro. Emory had a feeling that he was doing this hoping that he would grow annoyed of it and leave, but he wasn't giving up just yet.
"Deep in thought?" Emory asked breaking the silence.
"Yeah." Spyro replied back with a shrug.
"About?" Emory continued, figuring that they might as well strike up a conversation.
Spyro stayed silent for a moment as he tried to pierce his thoughts together. "I'm going to ask you one question, and depending on how you answer it, depends on if I'll train you or not…"
Emory perked up at the sound of that. "Alright ask away." But Spyro just shook his head.
"It's not that easy…"
"Why is that?" Emory seemed baffled by his response, but Spyro didn't answer this one leaving them both in a silence. Out of the corner of Emory's eye he noticed the tree leaves shake again. He looked up and stared at the patched of leaves that moved around, as if waiting for them to shift and shake again.
Lifting his head back up, Spyro noticed that Emory was staring off into the tree behind him. "What are you looking at?" Spyro asked curiously, snapping the ice dragon out of his trance.
Emory looked at the leaves one more time before focusing on Spyro again. "I thought I saw something move in the tree."
Spyro glanced at the tree behind him before shrugging. "I'm sure it is nothing."
Emory just bobbed his head up and down, nodding for no real reason. He heard Spyro groan and rub the back of his head, which peaked his interest slightly as he hoped that Spyro finally made up his mind.
"Alright look…" Spyro paused again, his eyes giving away the fact that he was struggling to find his words. "Do you like to fight,"
Emory seemed confused, as he didn't really expect such a question. "Well no not really, but I want to learn so that I can at least try to save the people that I care for. I don't know if you saw me when those thugs came. That wasn't a fight, they were just playing with me, and when they grew bored they'd just toss me aside like I was nothing and get Cynder." Emory had to take a deep breath, as his thoughts drifted back to their 'fight'. "I don't like fighting, but I hate even more knowing that I'm not strong enough to protect people."
Spyro slowly nodded his head. He would admit that this was more than what he expected of Emory, and he couldn't help but smirk and chuckle for a moment. "You must be one of the good ones then." he said rather happily. "Alright I suppose I can train you, but not right now." A smile emerged on Emory's face, feeling overjoyed to hear Spyro say that. Sure, it wasn't exactly what he wanted to hear, but he was going to be trained and that was all that mattered to him. "I can't promise that I'll be able to teach you much, but I'll see what I can do. I'll see you tomorrow Emory."
"Oh, um yeah." Emory replied returning to his senses. A light tint of red formed across his muzzle as he felt rather embarrassed by excited he got.
Spyro just nodded his head before turning around and took his leave. Seeing this Emory decided to leave himself. As he hurried to his next class, he began to think about all the cool techniques he might be able to do after Spyro teaches him. Not wanting to be any later than he already was, he started to run to his next class. If he had stayed just a little bit longer however, he would have noticed as someone jumped down from the tree.
The final bell of the day rang, and students poured out of the school, either walking or running home or to group up with their friends. Cynder was among these students, but she was not looking for Ember. She was looking for another fire dragon. Spyro in fact. This proved to be a bit of a challenge as she had not seen him all day or any of her classes, so she had little hope of finding him while searching through thousands of students walking about.
"Hey Cynder! Look who I found" Ember called out to her friend. Cynder looked towards where she heard Ember's voice and saw her smiling happily while her tail was wrapped around Spyro's arm pulling him along with her.
"Alright, we found her, can you let me go now?" Spyro asked an unamused look on his face. Ember nodded, loosening her grip around his arm, and he quickly retracted it and placed it on the ground.
"Thank you, Ember." Cynder replied, thankful that Ember found the dragon she was looking for.
"So, what do you want Cynder? Ember said you wanted my help." Spyro asked slightly annoyed that Ember pulled his arm instead of just him following her. She didn't really give him a choice anyways. Ember just came up to him started to pull his arm and told him that Cynder wanted to speak with him.
Cynder nodded her head confirming what Ember had told him. "After you single handedly took down three soldiers who work for Malefor, me and Ember figured you would be willing to help us unmask another possible suspect."
Spyro looked at her confused. "A suspect for what exactly?"
This time Ember spoke up. "While searching through my father's documents me and Cynder found out that a young Zealot about our age had his uniform and mask stolen. We think that it was another dragon working for Malefor." Spyro visually stiffened when he heard this.
"There could be another one walking around the city?" Spyro asked clearly worried by this news.
Cynder nodded. "What we are hoping is that if we are right and this dragon is working for him, then we want you to help us in case he tries to attack us."
Spyro took a moment to think about this. "So, let me get this straight." Spyro asked recapping the whole thing. "You want me to be your bodyguard so that you can assault a young Zealot?"
"Well I wouldn't say we are assaulting him or her." Cynder mumbled trying to just play this whole thing off. When he said it like that, it sounded a lot worse. "I mean yes that is what me and Ember want you to do."
"You do know that there is a chance that we'd be attacking someone innocent right?" Spyro had to ask.
Ember nodded her head. "We do understand, which is why we are going to try and get him to do something suspicious, like run away or try to attack us. That is where you come in. Cynder can fight, but we are worried that they might be able to overpower her, but if you helped us than there is no way this guy would be able to escape."
Spyro frowned. "I'm not sure about this. I mean if you are wrong then we are defiling someone, and we could get into a lot of trouble. Not to mention we'd be breaking several laws when we disturb this supposed invader of yours."
"But if we are right then we could be saving the whole city." Cynder pointed out. "I think the pros outweigh the cons."
Spyro looked up at Cynder and noticed that she had this look in her eyes that he had seen in Emory's earlier that day. There was a similar fire in them, only this time it seemed different as these flames seemed to be fueled by the will and determination to prove one's self and want to help thousands of others. An admirable trait Spyro would admit, and he couldn't help himself from chuckling a little at it.
"What is so funny?" Cynder demanded watching the red dragon laugh at her.
Spyro shook his head. "I mean no disrespect to you Cynder. It is just that both you and Emory remind me a lot of someone I care for deeply and I just find it to be really funny."
Cynder wasn't sure who he was talking about but at the moment she did not care. She just rolled her eyes and asked, "So are you going to help us or not?"
"For you Cynder." Spyro paused thinking it over for one more second. "I suppose I can help."
Ember let out a sigh of relief. "You know for a moment there I thought that you weren't going to help us." Ember explained.
"Well first I have to ask; do you guys even know how to identify him?" Spyro questioned. "Or are we just going to be questioning every single young Zealot we find?"
Cynder shook her head. "Thankfully no. According to Ember here, the Zealot we are looking for is about your height Spyro."
Spyro let out a sigh. Their information was next to useless to him, and he knew that they would just be grasping at straws here. "Alright then let's go, with that vague and general description." As they left, he couldn't help but chuckle, thinking that there was no way they'd be able to find the one they are seeking.
Another chapter done. I am really sorry for the long wait for this one guys, I promise not to take so long for the next chapter. Once again, I have to thank my co-author HKGhost for all of his help. I don't think I would have the will to continue this story without his help.
