Cold.

This was a cold Cynder had never experienced before. The Well of Souls had certainly been cold, but this cold was different. There was no toxic lava to warm you, no fresh meat, no cozy, furry ape pelts.

There was simply cold.

Cynder gazed at the snow, dotted with fresh specks of blood. Yes, Volteer, was his name? Terribly heavy. With a groan, Cynder dropped the unconscious elder to the snow with a splat, turning to inspect the land. Rigid buildings that looked like they had once been quite grand had decomposed into ice structures, covered in snow. Black spikes jutted from the frozen ground. War machines abandoned halfway through battle were frozen as well, but in time. Cynder poked a catapult with a large, spiked ball sitting inside. She leaped back in shock as the catapult was set off, the ball flying through the air, only to land on the opposite side. It exploded into a fiery bomb the minute it touched the snow, leaving a melted patch, complete with black scorch marks.

She would have to watch her step.

Reluctantly, she dragged Volteer back onto her back. Red liquid had pooled in his mouth and dripped from his nostrils. It gushed from the countless wounds Cynder had inflicted, and she could feel it against her scales. Snarling in disgust, she staggered through the snow, coughing up the remains of her previous battle. To her surprise, she coughed up a large clot of blood. She had been injured. And in her glee of victory, she hadn't realized the damage. The flight here had been powered by pure adrenaline.

She had only walked a few feet when she released the guardian, overtaken by a coughing fit. She screeched, trying to rid her throat of blood, but she was choking on it. Her body was burnt, terribly, and she only realized this when she hit the snow. The cold whiteness overtook her, combing with her abused skin. It was scorching. She cried out in pure agony.

How could she have been so stupid? Of course Volteer's electricity would do some damage. She had been so sure she would win; she had ignored the pain, the searing heat of power.

She had been foolish. And now she was paying for it.

She cried out again, thrashing about in the snow. Surely some ape would hear her? She had been visited by a vision, telling her to come here. To Dante's Freezer. This was where she was supposed to drop off Volteer, wasn't it? Then why was nobody here?

Her vision grew cloudy. The pain was numbing, the chill of the snow seeping past her scales, and soon she could barely feel her body. What a pathetic way to die, she thought.

Through bleary vision she saw the lump of yellow that was Volteer, completely motionless. He wasn't supposed to die. Malefor needed him for something. But he was going to die anyway, because Cynder had been foolish.

She couldn't breathe anymore. A pool of blood, warm and yet quickly chilling, was streaming from her mouth. Something inside her was broken. Internally, she was dying. Externally, she was numbing. She vaguely wondered if electricity was the most dangerous element.

Her eyes closed and the world disappeared.

Two blue eyes gazed sadly back at her. In a spurt of anger, she realized they were with pity. She snarled, but it was weak. It sounded like that of a child. She whirled around to inspect herself, and sure enough, she was a hatchling. Why was this form so familiar? It couldn't be...she had forgotten her childhood. It had been so long ago, hadn't it? She was an adult now, after all. Right?

"You're just like me, aren't you?"

She turned back to the pitiful eyes. They had now attached to a blue dragoness. To Cynder's shock, she realized it was the little child she had scavenged and ransomed. Wrongness twisted about in her belly. She wanted to vomit.

The dragoness was older now, beautiful. She stared at Cynder, and all she could see was sadness. Cynder growled. She was supposed to be the adult!

"I'm sorry. I thought you were evil. I guess I was wrong. You aren't evil. There's just evil inside you."

Cynder wanted to scream. She found herself trying to talk, to cry out, but being unable.

"I pity you. You have only known pain and suffering. The only emotions you feel are anger and hatred. Love, you don't even know what it is, do you?" The dragoness signed.

"Your innocence was stolen away without your consent. And I'm sorry."

She faded away. Cynder was gazing into blackness.

Another voice cut through the blackness. It was not a part of it like the blue dragoness had been.

It was taking her away.

"Wake up."

She stirred. Her body was sore.

"Cynder, wake up."

Her eyes flashed open. She registered the chill. That was not something she had missed.

She looked into the beady eyes of a commander ape. His creamy white fur and purple skin amused her. She had never seen such colors on an ape. It was so different from the grey and blue of her home.

"Who are you?" She asked, still slightly bemused.

"Commander Selen, at your service."

"Am I dead?"

He paused, his back turned.

"No."

"Where is the Electricity Guardian? Is he dead?"

The ape turned around.

"When we found you two, you were both alive, but just barely. Shocking, really. My first encounter with the dreaded black dragon and she's half dead."

Cynder snarled a warning.

"Not an answer, smartass."

"Okay, I apologize. We managed to stabilize the big yellow one with some dragon crystals and heal his wounds. Man, you did a number on him; I have to hand it to you, Mistress Cynder. He is now in a stable stasis in the caverns, being guarded over by the Ice King. Gaul has set up the major preparations, but you have to go down there and get something from the yellow dragon."

Cynder frowned.

"What do I have to get from him? I fought him, brought him here, nearly died, what more do you want?"

The ape shrugged.

"Gaul doesn't tell me everything, Mistress."

Cynder pouted, ripping her gaze from the oddly colored commander. Her paws were sore. She flexed them, and they burned in response. Frost bite.

"So, I'm healed?"

The ape raised an eyebrow. "Do you not know of dragon crystals? You are lucky to be a dragon. They help to regain health and magic."

Cynder pondered this quietly. Dragons had a huge advantage over everyone else. No wonder the apes needed her so badly. She frowned as she realized no one had ever told her this.

"I've been lied to, then. They wanted me to suffer."

She couldn't help herself as the sentence turned to a snarl, ripping from her throat and startling the commander. He whirled around, beady eyes wide.

Cynder got up, rising to her full height. She stretched her wings and arched her back, the crack of her spine reverberating in the icy fortress. Towering over the edgy ape, she fixed her cold, cruel gaze on his wrinkled face.

"Tell me what I have to do."

this is so late omg

who even reads this anymore lol