Slowly the sun started to appear above the wall surrounding Warfang. The goldish light spilled in through Cynder's window and caused her to stir from her slumber. She opened her eyes only to force them shut as the bright light hurt to glance at. Rolling over to the other side of her bed, Cynder attempted to sit up, only to find that she couldn't. Not because she was restrained physically, but mentally as a single thought was still fresh in her head since last night.
Just after dinner the day before, her father asked if she had seen Ember lately. Cynder told Terrador that she had not and questioned why he was asking. She could tell that he had troubling news for her as he had just by the look in his eyes.
"I'm afraid that Ignitus has gone missing... and I fear that Ember might be as well."
Cynder couldn't believe what she was hearing. It was bad enough to know that Ignitus was gone, but her best friend?
"What do you mean they have gone missing? Where could they have gone?" Cynder asked having a tough time coming to full terms with this matter.
"I mean that no one knows where they are. It's been nearly a week now and not a single person that I know as seen or heard of them." Terrador replied clearly. He was just as upset as his daughter, though he hid it easily.
Cynder quickly started to think once again about the Zealot. It could not be a coincidence that both Ember and her father would go missing around the same time the church was burnt down. Not only that, but both Ember, Spyro, and herself talked to the supposed traitor that same day was well. Cynder's mind instantly questioned if they were even alive or not. Her body started to grow numb, her heart started to sink and break, all the while her mind started to push her towards depression.
"It's all my fault, I killed them. Ember said no but I didn't listen, it's my fault... it's my fault, it's my fault, it's ALL MY FAULT!" This was not the first time the young dragoness had had such thoughts. The single thought pounded her brain with such force that she nearly broke down and begin to cry. She immediately thought to her mother, then repeated the mantra she had said to herself.
"I am not a cause for everything. I am not in control of everything. When things happen, it is not because of me." She repeated these thoughts to herself calmly, pushing down the terror and guilt. She needed a clear head. Terrador recognized this, and waited before continuing.
"Cynder, I need to know, do you have any idea as to where Ember might be?"
"The only place that I can think of would be the shopping district, but if she is not their then I have no idea." Cynder replied even, patting her back. There was not a single crack in her voice. Terrador nodded in reason, a troubled look forming on his face.
"Thank you Cynder... I must go now I have some... important matters to attend to." Terrador said, hastily leaving their home.
Back in the present, Cynder thought more about where Ember might be, along with Ignitus. Every single option she could think of always lead to the Zealot getting them. Her sadness began to change to anger and rage. 'How dare he lay a claw on my friends! When I find him he is going to pay,' Cynder could hardly remain still as her anger started to stirred through her veins. However, she also knew that sitting in her room was not going to do her any good. Leaving her home, Cynder began her search for the Zealot in the market place. In her mind if she just walked around she was sure to find him sneaking behind her sooner or later. But about an hour later of wondering she could not find a single trace of him.
"Maybe he left?" She asked herself as she stood in the middle of the plaza looking around for any masked dragons acting suspicions. Cynder tapped a claw against the street thinking where else he might be. She figured she would try the residence area next, but he wasn't their either. Starting to grow more annoyed she looked in the park, and once again found no one that resembled the Zealot. Cynder was at the point of just giving up for the day. But it was the thought of finding Ember that kept her going. She thought of more places that she could search. Her next pick was a more open area. Close to the park was a large, flat dirt covered area that was open to the public. Cynder didn't go here very often as she was never fond of sparing, which is what the place was mostly used for. She doubted that he was here as there were very little places someone could hid in. Wandering around the place, she was surprised to find Spyro and Emory sparing with one another near the back corner of the area.
She approached them, hoping that one of them would be able to help her find Ember. That, and she figured now was a good time to deal with some issues she had with Emory.
"Hey boys, what are you doing?" Cynder shouted. Both Spyro and Emory stopped mid-fight and glanced over at Cynder as she walked closer to them.
"Oh, hey Cynder. I was just doing some training with Emory here, like we promised." Spyro shouted back. Emory, however, didn't say anything. He still smiled broadly and friendly towards her.
"Hey have any of you seen Ember around here?" Cynder asked as reached them.
Spyro shook his head. "Afraid not. Why, did something happen to her?" Cynder's mood dropped, answering his question. "She's not dead is she?" he asked his voice now filled with concern.
"I don't know." Cynder said with a shrug. "All I know is that she has gone missing. As has her father."
"I'm sorry to hear that Cynder." Emory finally spoke, his tone and gaze lowering to the ground in sadness. "If I find either one of them, I will be sure to tell them that you are looking for the." Emory said as his head perked up, eyes sparkling a little at the prospect of helping his friends.
Cynder couldn't help but smile at this. She thought back to when she first Emory. To her he was a scum ball who just wanted her for her body, but looking at him now she can say that he is a different dragon then she accused him to be. This of course made her feel bad for him for how she treated him. Another thing she needed to address when they have their talk.
"Emory could I speak to you in private for a moment?" Cynder asked as she took a step forward.
Emory shook his head. "Sorry but I'm busy at the moment..." he said to her with a sigh, disliking the missed opportunity.
"Alright then. Maybe some other time?" Cynder asked, really needing to talk to him. They both needed to get something off of their chests and she knew it. "Maybe tomorrow?"
Emory took a moment to think about this before nodding eagerly. "Alright, tomorrow at noon. In the park sound good?" Cynder nodded her head.
"Yeah that sounds perfect." Cynder agreed.
The three fell into an awkward state, where none of them didn't know what to say. Cynder and Emory still had that strange tension between them, and Spyro was the third wheel in the ordeal. This went on for about a minute before Emory spoke.
"Well Spyro and I should get back to training." he said turning to face his red friend.
"Oh ok... wait, why are you two training anyways?" Cynder asked.
Spyro let out a tired sigh. "Emory strongly requested that I do this for him."
"You don't have to put it like that." Emory grumbled under his breath. Cynder giggled at the two boys antics, but she knew she couldn't stay long. She still needed to find Ember after all.
"Well thank you guys for your help, but I must take my leave now." Cynder said to the two of them as they walked back to their original positions. Both of the males nodded, but only Spyro spoke.
"See you around Cynder." Smiling at his reply, Cynder turned around and left to continue her search. As she walked, she made a list in her head of all of the places she has already visited. There was the park, that market, the town square, the open fields, the area she lived in, as well as the area below the walls... the only other place she could think of would be a Recolum church. She shrugged, not really sure what other choice she had.
She never really noticed how many of these churches there were around Warfang, but there were a lot more than she expected. She had nearly spent three hours searching through each one for her pink friend, and she hasn't even half way done. She had contemplated several times whether or not to just give up and consider Ember died, but her a part of her just could not accept that until she had visible proof of such.
Cynder searched, and searched, and searched some more, asking everyone inside if they had seen Ember, until finally she found her. Sitting in front of a large monument at the end of the church, Ember had her face in her paws, praying to the ancestries for a sign that her father was ok.
"Ember!" Cynder said in pure joy and delight as she ran up behind her friend and embraced her in a large hug.
"Cynder?" Ember questioned caught off guard by the sudden appearance of the black dragoness. "What are you doing here?" Cynder pulled away from her hug to answer her friends question, but that is when she noticed the condition her friend was in. It was nothing life threatening, but Ember's scales were not the bright pink that they normally are. Now they where this faded, grayish, dirty shade of pink telling Cynder that Ember has not washed in a long time. Her eyes were bloodshot as well as if she had not slept in a long time either, and she appeared a little thin.
"Ember what happened to you? Are you alright? Where have you been all this time? I was told you went missing." She asked with great concern for her.
Ember slowly nodded her head. "I'm fine Cynder. I have just been here for a while..." Ember let out a loud yawn giving Cynder more of a clue as to what Ember has been doing.
"Have you been praying this entire time?"
Ember only shrugged. "To be honest I'm not sure. I'm so tired I feel like I have been blacking out every now and then. How long have I been in here?"
"I don't know, my father said you went missing for about a week."
Ember yawned again before speaking again. "Oh, well I'm sorry for worrying you Cynder, I have just been worried myself... My dad went to go see if someone had that name for you... but he never returned home." Ember's eyes began to water as some repressed emotions started to surface once more.
Cynder instantly pulled her friend back into another hug trying to comfort her. "Shhh, it's alright, I'm sure your father is just fine" Cynder was clear lying and Ember knew it, but the words did comfort her a little.
"I don't know what to do, what if he is dead?" Ember question, tears starting to run down her cheeks. Cynder didn't know how to answer that question and she would be just telling her more lies if she said anything. The only thing that she could think of would be to give her a solution.
"I don't know either Ember, but come home with me. I bet my father might be able to help you in some way." Ember tightened her hold around the black dragoness, a wave of different emotions filling her body.
"Thank you." she whispered, having a bit of trouble speaking. Cynder grinned and ran her paw up and down Ember's spine.
"It's going to be ok Ember." Cynder pulled away from their embrace and placed her paw on her cheek. "Come, lets head home."
Sorry guys this story has been taking so long to post new chapters. I really have no excuse for that other then I have been writing a bit slowly. Lastly I apologies for the short chapter. I just did not have a lot to put for this chapter. I guess you could say that it is mostly set up for the next chapter. I definitely dropped the ball with this one, but I needed to post something. I promise all of you now that the next chapter will be much, much better.
