XI - No Forgiveness
It wasn't easy stepping into Warfang like this. After all, I've been gone for so long and no one has seen any evidence of me since that last time Spyro showed up in Howaito. After that though, everyone had presumed me dead. I don't blame them, I'm pretty much a dead dragon walking. I shouldn't be alive, I mean after all the stuff I went through and such. It's just way too much. I made my way into the city with no regard. My new friends were by my side and well… I had nothing to fear… nothing to worry about. "HEY!" Oh boy… what was I doing? I saw faces and eyes turn to face me, inspecting my new body and friends, especially since I was now walking on two legs. It just...seemed it has been like all second nature. I could hear whispers and mumbles coming from the other dragons in the crowd as we strolled up, parting a path through them as I walked up to the stage.
"Cynder?! What in the hell do you think you're doing back in Warfang?" Spyro had quickly hopped down to greet me with that same surly tone he gave me back in the forest. "We certainly cannot have a traitor walking amongst us now, can we? This news may be new to you but you have been banished from the Dragonlands. Exiled!"
"Me? A traitor? You've got to be joking. I'm not the one over here trying to bring a necromancer dragon to his full power!" I spoke up, the crowd gave a confused murmur and I huffed, placing my paws on my hips. "And I quite know that the events that lead me to stand on my two feet now have deemed me a traitor…" I turned my head back to the crowd, giving a slight huff. "But I'm not here for talk, Spyro…" My body felt a fire rising inside it… I turned my body away from them, huffing and soon pulling the spear from my back, holding it in my grasp. "As far as your concerned… I'm here to break the crystal and be rid of those offending shards!" I quickly turned back to face the purple dragon, pressing the very tip of my spear to his throat. I could see the sudden terror in his eyes. "And I'm not afraid of killing anyone who gets in my way… now move!"
"Cynder… you've gotten out of your head… pull your mind away from the gutter and just go. You don't have any hope of accomplishing such a task…" He pulled himself away from the pointed end of my spearhead and he huffed, quickly hopping back up on the stage, standing in front of the Crystal I was now bent on destroying. "But we cannot allow you destroy the Crystal! It's a priceless artifact! Its apart of our history, Cynder! I won't allow it. Now leave before you face the wrath of the Council…" The look in his eyes had changed from that of fear to determination. That same look I had seen all those many years ago when we finished off Malefor. I shook the thought away and took my readied stance, growling and snarling, spear at the ready. "Fine then… I see how it is… Cynder, your return to Warfang was a grave mistake! Now you and your company shall be banished from this realm and plain by the Council! Begone!" Spyro lowered his body and opened his maw, soon Cyril, Terrador, Volteer, and even Bläyz and Adäh. They had all turned against me… my past friends, turning against me. Ready to strike me down under the Order of the Council. I would not let them have their way of course. I watched as the crowd of dragons quickly dispersed and scattered, running from the soon to be battle.
"Alright...so that's how it'll be…" I took a step back, just as I did the dragons on the stage let out their elemental breaths, all aimed towards me. Those beams of elements would meld and fuse into one right before my eyes. I had only ever done this once when we had banished Flame from the realm. It's an amazing sight while you are the one performing it...but being the one on the other end of it, well it's a very terrifying thing to behold. A twisting ray of fused elements pouring together to make one, white, blinding beam. I stuck my spear towards it, holding still and proper, my paws gripping it tightly. It was that same spear that Captain Kardesh had given me. I still don't understand why… maybe he knew all about Domorah too...and the crystal shards. My thought was broken when the ensuing beam hit the tip of my spear, and I could feel the raw power against my paws as though I was holding it back with them. The crystal tip of it was durable, magically infused to never break. Of course, it wouldn't unless say, another crystal shard was to peel it out. I held still to my ground, eyes closed shut as the magical spear I held split the beam and shot it off in random directions, but none hitting me. Gallnayis and then others had quickly shuffled behind me yo stay out of the way of the scattered beams. I could feel the shard's energy staying strong, holding together as it fended off the raw energy the dragons the stage had poured from their throats until it all stopped. Once it was over, all I heard was the sizzling of the tip of my spear, superheated and glowing a deep red, the crystal shard within it still glowing its natural blue color. It soon cooled, and hardened, retaining its form. "A-ahh… I'm...still alive…" The dragons on stage were clearly unpleased with this.
"Alright… that's it… enough playing around! Time to get serious…" Spyro and Adäh had hopped off the stage, Bläyz quickly following behind and stepping beside them. "Cynder… I wasn't hoping it would come to this...but you leave us with no choice! Will have to settle this by tooth and claw…" And with that, they lept toward me, threatening to end my life right here, right now. I quickly took guard and held my spear up, Spyro tackling me over to the ground, the both of us sliding towards the open gate. There was fighting all around us as it quickly included my new friends and the rest of the Council. My focus quickly returned to the purple dragon on top of me, holding my spear firm against his chest, trying to hold him back. His claws scraped and slashed across the sides of my face and near my neck, though the rest of me was covered thanks to all the wyvern armor. It wasn't long until I had succeeded in what I wanted to do, tossing him off me so I could push back onto my feet and ready my stance again. I leaned into my run and charged at him, determined to stab through him if I had to, but it was of no use. Being on two legs made it more difficult to keep up in speed, so he was able to out dodge me, and outspeed me. I tried my best to stab him and pierce his scales with my magical spear but still, dodge after dodge he would avoid it, and soon he tackled me again, my paws losing their grip on the polearm, and it was sent flying through the open gate. Again and again, he tried to slash and rip into me but to no avail, my armor had saved me of many wounds. I had to change up my strats and I quickly did, sort of like switching gears I was now back in my quadruped status of thinking, and I used my hind legs to kick him up and over me. He did a flip through the air before landing on his paws and quickly returning to the attack. I had hopped onto all four of my paws and I charged right at him, though this time I pounced.
We tumbled and rolled out of the gate and into the grassy field, no one around...just me...and him. This was where we would decide it. I pushed myself away from him and we went flying in two different directions, both of us seem to land on our backs though with a hard thud.
"Ugh… just die already!" I heard him shout and he was bounding toward me by the time I was able to register what was going on. I quickly stood up, readied myself, and growled.
"Come on… Fight me like a man!" I shouted back at him, running right toward him, and we clashed, slamming into each other at full force. It hurt. My armor broke from the blunt force of his horns against my body. I hadn't noticed him lowering his head to charge until it was too late. Once we collided I was sent flying, went tumbling back and back until I hit my backside against a stray rock. The pain was nearly unbearable after the collision. I thought I had broken my back, but I certainly could still move so that was a good thing. I struggled to get my, groaning and panting as the pain surged through my body like how my own blood did, and just as I had gotten back to my paws, Spyro rammed into me again, his horns smacking into my stomach, shoving me back into the rock and pinning me to it. "AHHH! F-FUCK!" I was screaming at the top of my lungs, he was just so much stronger than I was! I couldn't believe it… What had made him so damn tough?! I screamed out as those horns bore into my stomach, piercing through the soft scales of my underbelly. He was so bent on killing me I doubted that he'd let up. I pushed him in time though before his horns would dig in too deep. It was only a matter of time before he was pouncing toward me, then pinning me to the ground, claws shoved against my neck and holding onto it, squeezing it. I gripped onto his wrist, digging my claws into them with the hopes of him letting go before the breath would leave my body. The more he would put on the pressure, so did I, and soon, he let go, paws dripping with his own blood and my claws stained with it. Spyro did seem to care as he was quickly back on the attack. I shook my head and stood up as quick as I could, bleeding from the stomach as I now readied my tail, holding firm. Without a second thought, I charged right back at him once again, my tail held out to the side of me like a lance, my head lowered a bit, his head down at the same level as mine, charging at me. I was determined to finish the job now, to really not hold back now. I had to let my body do the commands, not my mind. We kept racing towards each other. I could feel the world around getting slower and slower as my need to kill began to grow. It was… Like I was going back to roots. Whatever happens next, I was prepared for it, whether it be good or bad.
With the world slowed down around me I was completely unaware of how close he actually was until I could hear his breathing. I quickly pulled myself back, braced myself, digging my claws into the ground. He rammed me again, though I held firm and I quickly jumped onto him, sending the both of us tumbling down the hill we were on, we traded slashes and swipes of our claws, penetrating scales and clawing them off, though soon, that would all come to an end. I have had enough of this, and my mind was filled with nothing but that dark force I once had, those happy memories, replaced with ones of hate and disgust for this purple dragon. I found myself on top of his squirming body.
"Give it a rest Cynder! You know you can't beat me!" He yelled into my face, and growled at him, pushing my paw down against his throat, holding firm as I open my maw, and let loose a torrent of that elemental power I had in myself. My tongue burned with the unfamiliar feeling of that seeping poison, letting it wash over the head of the restrained purple dragon. I didn't let up, not even for a second until he kicked harshly at my midsection, rather effectively throwing me off of him. I landed onto my side and groaned out in pain, few drops of poison dripping from my maw. I looked to the offending dragon to see that I had at least did some damage to him, not enough to ward him off permanently, but enough to really leave a lasting scar. He was severely bleeding, his use to be scaled snout now missing the purple shine of those tough scales, only left with the tip of his nose being bone, though the rest of his snout looking like that of rotting flesh off of a necrodragon. His eyes were saved from the torrent of poison I had given him, but not so much of his face, parts of it still sizzling as the poison worked through the flesh to get to the bone. He looked horrid… and I had done it...it was my fault that he looked like that. I wanted to say something as that emotional side of me kicked in, but I had to refuse it. He wouldn't show any sympathy for me, so I would have to not do the same. He had slowly risen to his paws, swaying weakly now.
"M-my god you look horrible…" I finally spoke up, panting under my breath as my wounds had finally kicked in again.
"Yeah… No shit! This is all your fault… Don't deny it!" He stomped angrily toward me, blood dripping from his face. The sizzling had stopped, but his skull was showing quite profusely now. "I knew this day would come… The day my friends told me I would dread… When I had to be rid of the Black Dragon that nearly wiped the rest of us out… And here we are… Me… The purple dragon of Legend… and you... The daughter of Malefor…" He strolled closer and I had to do something. I looked around, hoping I would find my spear, but unfortunately, I had forgotten that that was back within Warfang, most likely still sitting on the ground where it had been knocked out of my paws. I then remember my tail. I was going to use it before! But one thing leads to another and I had continued to forget about it. But now was the right time to use it. I got up, padding weakly over to him as my wounds begged me to stop moving, but I trekked on, and soon we were head to head again. I looked him dead in the eyes, growling snarling a bit, my tail flicking around angrily.
"It's about time we draw this relationship to a close… I've had just about enough of you and your damn purpleness…" I growled, bearing my teeth as I readied my tail, pushing up against him. We were both weak, after that acid bath I had given him it seemed to drain him of his energy, though with him pushing me around I had barely any left. My chest was pressed to his, I could feel his quickened heartbeat, and then I felt one of his paws resting on my side, possibly to hold me still all was I could assume.
"Fine by me… See you in Hell…" He replied, and with such, I stabbed my tail forward, moving to pierce through his stomach and out into his chest. Though...Something felt off… Suddenly I had coughed up blood, and I pulled away a bit. It seemed...He had the same idea. Un...fortunately… "Unfortunately for you Cynder… You didn't make it out on top." He pulled me close and wrapped his forelegs around me. My body trembled as that tail of his had completed the job, as where mine had not. "It's okay… you'll be with the rest of the traitors… I'll remember you though…" I hadn't realized how he had done it. I had completely glossed over the fact of his own elemental powers. He had made himself an Earthen blade tail and sunk it right through my body, in through my stomach, out through my back.
"O….Oh... " Tears started to well in my eyes, I could feel myself losing consciousness. "Spyro… I'm...sorry… for everything…"
"Cynder… It's too late for sorry… You've hurt me enough… And now it's time I return the favor… Say hello to Flame for me…" And that was when he drove the Earthen blade of his tail deeper into me, causing me to groan out in pain as I dug my claws into him, piercing his scales but it was to no avail, as my efforts had only lead me to scream louder, then...it stopped…
