A little bit more dragon scenes in these next few chapters. This one, as well as the next four, will revolve around the dragons, so there'll be a little bit less Aaron and Hunter for a while. Anyway, I hope you enjoy!
"I thought I might find you here, Cynder." Spyro said, opening the door to her room. "At least by night, anyway. I've been searching all over for you."
"Oh, hi, Spyro. I just went out on a flight to calm myself down. Why were you looking for me?" Cynder asked.
Spyro walked towards Cynder, closing the door behind him. "Because when you left, I knew something was wrong." Spyro said. "Would you care to explain what's going on?"
"I just… I've never seen Cyril that angry before. Honestly, it scared me. It reminded me of Gaul. When I would come back with news of an unsuccessful siege, he would get real riled up and would attack me." Cynder explained. "It just reminded me too much of that. And now I realise I must have hit a bigger nerve on Cyril than I thought."
"You did insult his brother, Cynder." Spyro clarified. "Of course it was going to hit a big nerve. Especially as it's Cyril we're talking about."
Cynder didn't move from her spot on the ground in her room. She had her back facing Spyro as she sat down at the window of her room, staring out at the moonlit, starry sky. She heard Spyro walking closer to her as the purple dragon sat down next to her. Spyro looked at Cynder, and the action turned Cynder's gaze off the sky and onto Spyro. Her tear-stricken face made Spyro's face fall. "Can you explain to me why you don't like General Icebreath?" Spyro asked. "It may help the situation a bit better. It might even make Cyril understand a bit more. Knowing Cyril, he's most likely going to hold what you said to him against you until he knows what you really think of his brother."
"I just… don't like the way he talks to me and pushes me around. I know he's a guard and all that, but… I was pushed around by Gaul so much, I just want freedom. Whenever something comes up, General Icebreath is always on the scene, jumping into action and barking out orders like nobody's business." Cynder explained. "I can't feel free with all that, and he just expects others to do whatever he says without a second thought. I mean, I get why it's expected that people obey the guardians. They're the guardians for crying out loud! But Icebr… General Icebreath… he acts like he's a guardian himself! He's nothing more than a guard!"
"He's probably looking up to his older brother, Cynder. Plus, I have heard that General Icebreath had a difficult childhood. Maybe that's one of the reasons why he's hard." Spyro explained.
"He's harder than Cyril. But… now that you put it that way, it makes sense." Cynder said, sniffling and turning her gaze back out to the night sky. "I just… don't like the way he talks down to me. I mean… we saved the world! You put the world back together! General Icebreath wouldn't be able to do that! And yet he orders you around like you're some random old citizen of Warfang! Me as well!"
"I obey him because it's the right thing to do! While we've been in intense fights, he has better judgement than us. He's much, much older than we are. He sort of has the authority to order us around. I know you don't like it, but… sometimes people are just… different."
"And the way he spoke to me when I didn't want to kill the ape. It was extremely harsh. I tried explaining that I didn't want to do it in front of many other dragons, but he wouldn't listen. General Icebreath just seemed to not heed anything I was wanting to say."
"He probably still doesn't trust you, for reasons I think you know about. I think you two just need to learn to put up with each other and trust each other. Maybe if General Icebreath learned to be a bit more open to suggestions, then that might help. But I doubt it given what he went through as a child. He made himself so icy towards people because of it." Spyro explained. "Just give him a chance, and he might give you a chance. Who knows? You two could learn to put all this disagreeing behind you and start agreeing on things."
Cynder nodded, and Spyro stood up and left. "I'll leave you to yourself now. Goodnight, Cynder." Spyro said.
Cynder muttered a reply, hearing Spyro's clacking claws fade and the door shut behind the purple dragon. He doesn't understand. He won't understand. Cynder thought, tears welling up in her eyes. How am I going to be able to tell him? General Icebreath will just… ignore me like he always has.
Cynder groaned as she laid down on the ground, closing her eyes slowly as she tried to fall asleep. But she was worried. She was worried about Aaron's wellbeing and if he was doing okay. Truth is, when she had left the Warfang Temple, she'd gone out to find Aaron, but had no luck. She had been extremely worried about Aaron, and she struggled to fall asleep as her fear for Aaron kept her awake. Cynder kept trying to close her eyes, but just as her eyelids were about to close, they snapped open again.
After about ten minutes of Cynder failing to fall asleep, which was odd because dragons fell asleep very quickly, usually within a minute or so, Cynder groaned and stood up, opening the door and walking out of the large building that she lived in. It was like a pair of apartments stacked on top of each other, reserved for the heroes of the world. Cynder lived in the top unit and Spyro in the bottom. As Cynder slowly walked down into Spyro's apartment so she could leave, stepping as quietly as possible, she let out a gasp when she heard a loud snoring sound coming from Spyro's direction. Cynder slowed her breathing and rolled her eyes. He's fallen asleep on the couch. she thought. Boys.
Cynder slowly opened the door and walked out, closing it silently behind her. She leapt into the air and caught the wind in her wings as she flew up high. Normally she would have leapt out of her own apartment, but there was nowhere in her apartment to take off, and Spyro's apartment was at the bottom with the door. She wasn't sure why it was built that way. Maybe the moles forgot while they were building the two-storey building, or maybe it was as a joke, taking the fact that the two dragons did have a thing for each other a bit too far. While it did feel off creeping through Spyro's apartment like that, Cynder needed to get out. Her body wouldn't allow her to rest until she found Aaron.
She had known that the night before Aaron had left Warfang by climbing up over the large wall. It unmistakably broadened her search. But surely he can't have gone far in one day, so Cynder searched as deep in the forest as she expected Aaron to go within a day. But after twenty minutes of looking around, her eyes began to close. No, not now. I can't fall asleep now. I need to find Aaron. Cynder thought frantically, trying to keep her eyes from shutting.
Her efforts to stop her eyes closing failed, and Cynder groaned as her eyelids snapped shut and Cynder fell asleep in the sky. Her wings contracted, causing her to fall to the ground. Normally, the impact would have woken her up, but the impact instead caused her to fall unconscious as she hit her head hard on the ground.
Cynder opened her eyes. Bright sunlight flashed through her eyelids, causing her to blink repeatedly to filter the intense brightness out of her eyes. Once she had done that, she stood up, looking around. Walking aimlessly in the forest, Cynder suddenly saw something she wished she hadn't. Blood. The red liquid had stained into the silky green grass, and it put Cynder's heart in her throat. "Aaron! Aaron!" she cried, whirling around frantically and flustered as she hoped Aaron was okay.
Of course, if she had been at that point in time the day before, she would have seen Aaron shoot down a rabbit in that area. The body of the rabbit was long gone, and, thinking the blood was Aaron's, that freaked Cynder out seeing blood and no body lying around. But then she realised that it could mean something good. Aaron had probably walked off or accidentally cut himself as he was running or walking along this path, using the grass to wipe off his wound. The other thought made Cynder shiver. That thought was that he had been attacked, the attacker dragging his body away to some prison or to eat it. The meat on the body that had shed the blood had been eaten, but the body wasn't Aaron's.
Cynder brought her nose down to the bloodied grass and sniffed at it, getting the rotten smell in her nostrils so she could try and track down Aaron. She walked, trying to follow the scent for several minutes, until she lost track of it. The scent of the blood suddenly disappeared, turning into something else, which Cynder didn't know what. Cynder groaned, bringing her head up high and looking around. "Aaron?! Aaron, are you anywhere here?!" Cynder called. "Aaron!"
Her efforts to find Aaron by calling him were useless. She sighed sadly, turning her gaze towards the ground. If I can't find him, maybe it is the best thing for him, and for us dragons. But… I can't help but worry for him. He's in a new world that he has no idea about. Cynder thought.
There was a snap followed by loud rustling. A grunt, followed by the sound of a stone rolling downhill was heard. Cynder perked her head up, looking around from where the sound could have come from. She got low and began to creep towards the sound silently; the noises were very loud and could not have been too far away. She kept her head low as she crept forward stealthily. But she stepped on a rock, setting it loose, causing it to roll downwards. Cynder winced as she knew it would alert whoever it was making the sound.
"Hello? Who's there?" a voice asked.
It was a voice Cynder remembered from two years earlier. "Hunter?" Cynder asked, loosening her rigid stance.
Hunter's figure appeared from through the trees, holding a dead rabbit in his hand. Hunter's eyes widened. "Cynder! It's been a while." Hunter said, putting the rabbit over his shoulder and crossing his arms. "Where's Spyro?"
"Back in Warfang. I just… I just needed a little time to get away from him." Cynder explained.
Hunter pulled a face. He knew that Cynder had confessed her love for Spyro just as he was putting the world together, and it confused him when Cynder said that she needed time away from the purple dragon.
"We got into a fight yesterday." Cynder deadpanned. "It's nothing too much, but I sure hope it won't happen again. Things have been happening and Cyril has been getting very mad at me recently."
"Concerning his brother?" Hunter asked.
"Wait, how'd you know he…?" Cynder asked as a shocked expression flooded through her face.
"Stories. Plus, General Icebreath has helped out our village on the very odd occasion. He only does it because we're friends of the purple dragon, of course, but he's accidentally let the word brother slip out of his mouth when talking about Cyril about twice before." Hunter explained.
"I'm back, Hunter. I've got about three rabbits." a voice said as footsteps were heard.
Hunter rushed towards the sound and whispered something to the person, and then that person went silent. Hunter then turned back with an awkward smile on his face. "What was that? Um, who was that? That'd be a better question to ask." Cynder asked the yellow cheetah.
"Just my apprentice. He's a bit wary of dragons and such, so… yeah." Hunter said awkwardly.
"Hunter, you could've told me it was Cynder." the voice came out again, with a touch of a laugh inside the voice.
Cynder gasped in shock as Aaron stepped out of the thick trees and bushed, with his own bow and quiver, and three rabbits were slung around his shoulder. "Wait, Aaron?! He's your apprentice?!" Cynder asked. "How did you…?!"
"I gave him a test and… he's pretty good with a bow. Good enough to not be an ape." Hunter said. "So I take it you know Aaron?"
"Know him?! I rescued him from the Warfang prison!" Cynder exclaimed.
Hunter's expression turned to one of shock. "They really did think you were an ape, didn't they?" Hunter asked.
"Did you actually doubt me?" Aaron scoffed, rolling his eyes and chuckling.
"No, but I didn't think it was that bad." Hunter replied, shrugging.
"You were willing to impale my chest onto an arrow, Hunter!" Aaron argued, a hint of a chuckle in his voice.
"So… by any chance do you guys think you'll be dropping in through Warfang?" Cynder asked.
"Hell, no. I want to stay clear of that place as much as possible!" Aaron shouted.
"In fact, we were going to spend a few more days out here before heading out to the Cheetah Village." Hunter explained calmly.
"Really? You're taking him to the Cheetah Village?!" Cynder asked with shock.
"His bow skills surpass anything I've ever seen from a non-cheetah. I think the cheetahs will be surprised and most likely believe us due to Aaron's archery skills." Hunter said. "The only real reasoning I have is with Chief Prowlus, but hopefully, given how his judgement was proved wrong with you and Spyro in the Cheetah Village, maybe he might have a chance. I'm not entirely sure about it."
"Fair enough." Cynder said, nodding.
"I'd first of all like to ask a question, Cynder." Aaron said.
"Sure. Go ahead." Cynder replied.
"Well… it may be better if I explained a bit first." Aaron explained.
"Alright, start with the explanation." Cynder said, urging Aaron to begin speaking with a flick of her paw.
"In our world, we have several… legends. These legends include many different stories about many different people and creatures. One of them… one is about you and Spyro." Aaron explained.
"Us? So… you know about us? I thought you said dragons didn't exist in your world." Cynder said as a confused expression filled her face. "Except in myths."
"If you remember in the interrogation, I said that dragons were only mentioned in myths and legends." Aaron said. "So yes, us humans do know about you."
"How much of it do you know?" Cynder asked, fear clutching her heart over what Aaron would understand of her story.
Aaron knew this, but he had to have his question answered, and he'd already started his explanation, so he had to continue it. And he knew that it wouldn't be the best idea to lie, so he spoke the truth. "The Legend of Spyro, as it's called, came in three parts, or chapters. The first…" Aaron said, unsure how to break it to Cynder that he knew of her corruption. "The first part went from when Spyro left the dragonfly village to the point where he… where he freed you."
Cynder winced and made a loud groan. "So you know all the crimes I committed? All the dragons I murdered?" Cynder cried, tears welling up in her eyes.
"It was only implied, explained implicitly." Aaron said. "It never went into great detail, only the fact that Ignitus only ever mentioned you as a being that struck fear into the Dragon Realms. But… but lucky for you, that was only ever in the first chapter of the Legend."
"O-okay, what was in the second and third chapters?" Cynder asked, even though she knew the answer.
"The second chapter went on throughout the Night of Eternal Darkness until Spyro created the Time Crystal, and the third… the third was… was…" Aaron stammered, not wanting to startle Cynder by the name of Malefor. "The third chapter was set when you were freed from the Time Crystal three years after, and ended just after Spyro put the world back together."
"So you know what Malefor did to us and about Ignitus' death?" Cynder asked.
"Well, uh… yes." Aaron deadpanned, lowering his head. "But my question was, how did you and Spyro get out of the core of the world when he put it back together? It's really bothered me since I finished reading the Legend. It never explained how you escaped. Everybody seemed to assume that you two died, getting crushed when the continents of the world came back together."
"Well… I don't know how to explain it. When Spyro used that energy, a dragon spirit appeared, like the ones that took Malefor. It grabbed us as the world began to close, and Spyro finished using his powers. It took us to the surface, just in time as the world closed again. Spyro collapsed, terribly wounded, and I took him to the nearest inhabited area, which was a little village of moles. Spyro was nursed back to health, and we went back to Warfang to meet up with the Guardians. Sparx apparently had returned to the Swamp to meet up with his parents." Cynder explained.
Aaron nodded. "Okay. That makes quite a fair bit of sense." Aaron said. "Thanks."
Aaron sighed and smiled. Now I can get that question out of my head. I still have more questions, but now is not the time. Aaron thought.
"So, are you ready to go to the Cheetah Village now?" Hunter asked.
"Yeah. I sure am." Aaron said, adjusting the rabbits he had caught on his shoulder comfortably.
"I should… probably head back to Warfang. Spyro will be pretty worried." Cynder explained, a nervous smile creeping across her lips.
"Yeah, sure." Aaron said, shrugging.
"Tell me how it goes when we meet again." Cynder said.
"I will. Bye, Cynder." Aaron farewelled.
"Goodbye, Aaron and Hunter." Cynder replied, leaping into the sky and extending her wings as she gained altitude, flying up into the sky.
That last scene with Aaron and Hunter was absolute crap. I did a bit of extra work on it just now in the editing process, but it's still kind of crap. The next few chapters will be much better than this one, I hope. Anyway, until the next chapter, bye!