A loud knocking wakes Cynder from her thankfully dreamless slumber, Terrador peeks his head into the plain looking room, "it's time to get up, we have much work to do today." Cynder groans in annoyance, she'd much rather try to catch up on a little more sleep before their research today, but she begrudgingly sits up; leaving behind dirty stains on the once clean sheets.
Gazing up from the soiled bedding, "I could really use a bath," true to her words caked dirt and sweat dirties her scales from their recent adventure, at the mention of self care her stomach rumbles loudly, they both haven't eaten since Spyro awoke a few days ago.
"I'll have Nero show you two around, after you've bathed and eaten meet us back at the training dojo near the front entrance so we can discuss our plan."
"Spyro told me about the library; I got some information from Navzes I'd like to check up on," Cynder offers.
"Meet us after you've done your research, finding your parents might yield some clues as to the origin of this spirit," he agrees stepping back out at the sound of a door closing behind him. "Good I see your awake, please show these two around, they'll need to get aculatmeted with the Temple as soon as possible."
Cynder hops off the bed and stretches as Nero replies something inaudible, Terrador pads off before she walks out the door into the hall. Greeting her there is the Shadow dragon Nero, his jet-black scales split asunder by lightning-strike patterned yellow markings, his blood-red horns and belly were unlike either of his parents. "How are you feeling?" Nero greets with obvious restrain.
"Better, I haven't slept in a real bed since… well…" the leaf beds at the old Dragon Temple didn't really count and she didn't sleep in the bed at Concurrent Skies.
Seeing her reaction his withholds his questions, "I heard you wanted to bath first, lets…" behind him Spyro practically stumbles out of his room. Spyro's room was strategically placed at the end of the hall; any intruder would be unable to quickly enter his room and would likely be intercepted by the Guardian posted outside. Spyro's eyes were bloodshot and tired looking, enough Nero can't control himself from asking, "Are you okay?"
"No," Spyro tiredly admits while rubbing his eyes "I'm not convinced I slept at all last night, I just couldn't stop thinking about all the stuff going on."
"Maybe a bath will help you wake up, follow me" Nero leads them out to the hall, pausing by Winter's room, "I think Winter and Flame are both up already." Walking out into the hall in the direction of the infirmary instead of taking the stairs he walks past them and they enter a corridor leading them towards the center of the mountain.
Descending down another short set of stairs they arrive at the baths, the sound of water flowing through a nearby pipes surprises Cynder, "flowing water? In a building this old?"
"Remember this whole place was rebuilt; with most of the city having to be rebuilt after the siege it was the perfect opportunity to integrate plumbing systems into buildings. Although it wasn't until recently the remaining homes were redesigned, Geal is actually helping design most of the…" Nero stops suddenly. Listening more carefully they can hear the sound of water splashing against a dragon's scales, chuckling lightly Nero turns back to the two and places a claw to his lips.
Creeping forward Nero somehow disguises the sound of his claws on stone, Cynder blinks observing that he's cloaked his paws in Shadow to disguise any sound they might make. Moving around the corner he sees Flame sitting under a shower emplacement, sitting on his hunches Flame lets the water wash over him, enjoying the cooling water flowing over his fire red scales. Nero creeps up on the smoldering scaled dragon when he stops, Flame's back is towards him giving Nero a good look at him; his golden wings and horns matched with his claws and tailspike.
Nero slinks closer studying Flame in earnest, from his snout to the muscles under his scales his suspicions were confirmed, Spyro and Flame are nigh identical. Barring scars and other minor differences the two are even more alike than most siblings, although the possibility of them being twins is definitely impossible it's a mistake anyone could make. Shaking his head finishing his study of his friend, Nero is standing right behind him when something catches Flame's eye; a shadow flickering past the light.
Flame turns to investigate before his eyes widen in horror, with an excited roar Nero grabs and bodily throws Flame into the nearby bath throwing water high around them, he swiftly surfaces only for Nero to dive in on top of him. Spyro and Cynder round the corner behind him to see the excess water draining down the nearby grate.
As Flame climbs out of the bath to the tune of everyone's barely suppressed laughter they look around. Several showers lined the left wall, the flow of water is being controlled using a valve below the spout, in a slot in the wall holds bars of soap; on the right is a large stonework bath also controlled with another valve, currently occupied by an amused Shadow dragon.
Interrupting the pairs observance, "you know I don't think I need to be any more clean!" Flame turns on Nero as he climbs out.
"But you were so peaceful and deep in… AHH" as Flame shoves Nero back into the bath, avoiding Nero's attempt to drag him back in.
Turning back to and padding up to the two new arrivals, "name's Flame. It's an honor to finally properly meet you," his voice tainted with only the briefest hints of nervousness.
"Pleasure to meet you as well," Spyro smiles.
"So what's going on with you two?" Nero asks dripping wet as he climbs out of the bath, Cynder glances to Spyro, this was one of the first times since she pushed the feelings away she's thought of it. Before she can consider it further he clarifies passing Flame a towel, "I mean look at the two of you; your practically carbon copies of one another. Normally I would theorise that the probability of the two of you being twins should be high, however due to the timeline of events such an unlikely set of occurrences is statistically impossible. Excluding a lack of probable genetic variance the only possible solution is a form of time based paradoxical occurrences…"
"Nero." Flame sternly reminds him before looking apologetically at them "he gets like this at times."
"He probably gets it from his dad doesn't he?" Cynder offers, bringing a knowing chuckle from the group.
"As fun as this had been I really need to get going, Terrador wants me to work on tempering my flames some more, it's still flaring up at times and I can't quite control it," explaining as he dries off with one of the towels and leaves. Showering and cleaning the caked dirt and other stains from their scales the three quickly clean up and leave the showers as well.
Making their way further down stairs they stop in to grab breakfast at the kitchen before meeting at a staircase leading down into the earth, Nero finally voices a question he's had since he first learned about what plagues her soul. "Cynder, can I ask you something… personal? It's okay if your uncomfortable answering."
Her mind flashes back to the note he'd left for her, and his compliment; it's not as if she hadn't caught the looks some of the dragons her age had paid her, she'd just only used it to her advantage to pull attention away from Spyro. Realising she was just staring blankly at him without responding, "fine. What do you want to know?"
"Well…." Nero mutters knowing full well he shouldn't be asking this of her, "you said that the Terror took the form of your corrupted self right? So I was wondering… does it force you back into your corrupted state?"
"As far as we know of no, why would I…" Cynder starts.
"Wait Cynder!" Spryo suddenly exclaims, "I thought I was just seeing things back then, but I might of seen a dark wisp on you when we woke up back at the cave."
"I see…" Nero observes, "this might actually be a good thing, it'll make it more obvious to anyone that sees you that there's something amiss. If we have one of the Guardians watch over you, we can stop you before you ever have a chance to harm our purple friend here."
"But what about Lux and Umbra? And who is it that will be able to stop me? I don't doubt the Guardians abilities, but if the Terror can wield my own power in addition to its own. I don't think there's anyone who can…"
"We use dad-I mean Volteer, he can paralysis you; you won't be able to hurt anyone if you can't move," he explains.
"Sending that much power through you could stop your heart; it's too dangerous," Spyro steps in. Cynder takes only a second to cherish the sentiment before retorting
"Your concern is touching, but having a murderous serial killer out for your life is even more dangerous."
"I already told you. I don't want anyone to…" Spyro starts, the argument clearly heating up.
"Sorry to interrupt, but neither of those things need to happen. My dad is the Guardian of Electricity, he's been working with a lot of small machines that Geal designed, he can control it enough to hopefully do no permanent damage to you, besides it should hopefully only be for a short time since we know when they're coming. If it makes you feel any better Aqua will be on standby to treat you if anything goes wrong, the biggest mistake these guys made was warning us in advance. We'll win, have faith in us" Nero explains.
"All right…" Spyro sighs defeatedly.
Cynder glances over trying to catch his eye but he avoids it. "We should really get going, Spyro you remember the way back to the entrance hall don't you? I want to help Cynder research about our little spirit problem," Nero asks.
"Yeah, I'll see you two later."
"We'll be okay, I promise," she reassures giving him a comforting nuzzle before he turns to leave, uncertain how to feel.
Nero and Cynder watch him leave, and themselves start descending the stairs leading towards the library, stopping on the landing before another staircase, Nero speaks up. "You really care about one another don't you?"
"What?" Cynder blushes knowing exactly what he's talking about, "I mean of course we do, we've been through a lot together…"
"Does he feel the same way?" Nero asks with an almost child-like curiosity.
"Listen, if anything happens… I don't want him trying to follow me. If he tries to… Can we not talk about this right now?" Cynder pleads unwilling to meet his gaze.
Nodding in apologetic agreement Nero drops the subject as they reach the library. Inside the massive room is thousands of pieces of literature and knowledge, before they start looking Cynder thinks of something. "Why did you think I wouldn't want to answer your question? There wasn't anything personal about it."
"Well… it wasn't my only inquiry" he mutters.
"Well? What is it then?"
"What was it like? Do you remember anything about your corruption? I know it was a painful time for you, but…" he trails off.
Cynder doesn't respond for a moment and Nero doesn't try to force it by looking at her. "I don't remember much, some things are as clear as if it were just yesterday, but others… are just gone. There's huge gaps in my memoires, but the skills I've learned? There all still with me, everything I learned to kill and terrify the populace of the world will never leave me. When I was corrupted I didn't exist; there was no separate personality, it wasn't until long after my corruption ended that I became...ME," she explains before she falls quiet, unwilling to think about it more.
"Thank you, I know that wasn't easy for you." Nero turns back to her as they arrive at the tables in the center, the soft white light highlighting his blood red horns and claws. "It's a long shot, and it'll take ages, but we should try to find anything about spirits possessing people and how to exorcise them."
"If you don't mind…." she starts knowing that her request is selfish.
"I'll start in mythology, geography is that set over there, " he points towards some shelves several bookcases down. Cynder follows his claw and turns back to thank him only to see his tail disappearing behind a bookcase.
"Focus!" Terrador commands as he watches Flame; Flame breathes deeply creating a small ball of fire in front of him. He gazes hard into it, the swirling orange flames condensing and growing hotter; his paw shakes and shutters in concentration, Flame brings his other paw over to calm it. The feeling of his scales breaks his concentration and the ball of fire explodes engulfing Flame in a large swirling cloud of ash and fire.
Growling loudly in annoyance Flame emerges unscathed as the cloud dissipates around him, "this is starting to get irritating." Flame's aura is naturally immune to his own fire; even the fire of other much older dragons fail to harm him.
"Have patience youngling, do you remember how difficult it was to control your flames and prevent them from destroying everything? I have faith that you'll master even this," Terrador reassures walking up to the smoldering dragon.
"But that was completely different; before it was just a case of not releasing too much magic at once, but this…" Flame indicates the scorched earth surrounding him. "I just can't focus enough to control it, anything that distracts me is enough to break my concentration," he bows his head guiltily.
"Flame" Terrador places a massive paw on his shoulder, "your power is immense, unique. There has never been a dragon with this shear level of magical power in the history of our race, Ignitus… my predecessor before me. Was extraordinary in his own right, but just as with him wielding just a massive amount of magic was difficult to control and took him decades to master it. This process takes time…"
"We don't have time!" Flame shouts louder than he meant to, looking up apologetically "they need my help, and we don't have decades to wait. What if I lose control again…" Flame stops.
"There is another way, if you want to..." Terrador starts before he's interrupted, the sounds of claws on stone announce the purple dragon's presence. "Perfect, trust me, he can help you with mastering this power" the green dragon turns around greeting the purple savior. "I'm glad to see you, we need to learn more about the powers you can wield for the time being."
"I thought the purple dragon can wield any element?" Flame asks curious.
"After the Shattering I lost the ability to use any of my elements normally, I can only use a specific power from each," Spyro explains as he approaches them.
"Spyro would you mind showing Flame your Ice power, pay attention to how he performs it" Terrador commands.
Spyro breaths filling himself with the chilling power of cold, directing it to his claws he forms razor-sharp icy blades over his already sharp claws. Smiling he locks eyes with Flame, the look of amazement on his face fills Spyro with pride as he examines the deadly claws. Before long though a crestfallen look crosses him, "you want to replicate that with my fire don't you?"
"The act of trying is more important than succeeding, one often learns more from failure than success."
"Okay…" Flame breaths slowly, preparing his power Flame fills his body with the fiery energy, rather than releasing from his maw he pushes it downward towards his paws. The chaotic energy resists and tries to escape him but he holds it there, thin smoke escapes his muzzle before small flames encase his paws. He tries to consolidate it towards his claws but the energy is simply too uncontrollable and he gives up, just keeping his paws alight in a comforting warmth. "I got close… I guess" Flame half-hearted mutters.
"Are you kidding?" Spyro interjects, "look at that, you can burn anything with flames as intense as that!" Flame looks back at his paw and true to Spyro's word it's completely engulfed in a powerful flame, he hadn't tried to suppress his power at all and soon the flames start to spread up his leg. The pride at being praised by a dragon of such stature dawns on Flame's face as he refocuses on his magic. Rather than let it draw out his fear he calms his heart letting it rise up his leg but doesn't let it progress any further.
"Holding a shape made of magic against your body is much easier than holding it out in the air, but it is the same principle. However you might of noticed the smoke leaking from his maw while he focused his power, Flame was gifted with an immense amount of magical power; even as a new born he could wield Fire far surpassing even grown adults," Terrador explains. "Controlling that power has been a constant struggle for him, but he's been improving by leaps and bounds recently. He is almost certainly the most powerful dragon in the temple at this time… although I think Cynder might stand a chance with her shadow magic."
"That reminds me, where's Ember?" Spyro asks looking around.
"We aren't certain if your return has had an effect on her or not, but she's been sickly for about a week. She's been getting better recently but Aqua still has not been able to determine what ails her. As for Winter… we're not sure where he's run off to, he wasn't in his room this morning and no one's seen him. As worried as we are about the two of them their both plenty capable and we should worry about the two of you for the time being."
"The two of us?" Flame asks.
"Yes we need to develop both of your powers as far as possible, if these two are as strong as we suspect your powers will be instrumental to our victory," Terrador walks towards the outside of the room, "Flame you focus on mastering projecting your flame, Spryo show me your remaining powers."
Spyro and Flame walk upward, ascending the stairs leading to the top of the mountain that forms the Temple, their muscles and bodies sore from constantly expending their magic and running around the dojo. The sun hangs low in the sky, most of the day already spent they were given the rest off to rest and explore a little more of the Temple. Flame leads Spyro to one of his favorite places to watch the city when they hear a voice.
"I understand how you feel, but that's not what's important, it doesn't matter whether or not they acknowledge you or not. You're still a student here and…." the voice belonging to Cyril says.
"You just don't get it do you!?"Winter shouts before quiet wingbeats sound as he leaves.
Walking up to the platform the pair find Cyril with a downcast look on his face, an uncertain questioning sort of face showing his uncertainness about what to do. The sound of their claws announcing their presence Flame asks the question on both of their minds, "what happened?"
"Youngling… you'll have to ask Winter, I don't have any right to speak for him on this matter. I wouldn't follow him right now, he's got some stuff to sort out on his own, although I wish he wouldn't insist upon doing it all by himself." Cyril shakes his head as if to clear the thoughts, "What brings you two up here?"
"Well I thought that since it's too high up for anyone to recognize him it might be a good place to relax and watch the…"
Before Flame can finish another dragon walks up behind him, "I think I could use a good rest as well" Cynder says from the stairs behind them.
From the irritation on her face he doesn't need to ask but Cyril does anyway, "find anything useful?"
"About the spirit no. And about where my parents' might be? Also no. I was able to narrow it down to a theoretically possible region IF they put as little effort into actively hiding themselves as possible, it would still take at least a month to search the whole area. That lead isn't going to do us any good for now, so I came up here to clear my head before going back to research."
"Well I won't spoil your fun younglings," Cyril mockingly proclaims as he limps over towards the stairs, clearly struggling he catches Cynder and Spyros eyes. They'd only seen him in the entrance hall and was only near him for a few minutes, they hadn't seen the change that'd come over him. His once light blue scales has faded completely into a near perfect white, his purple underbelly now only has the slightest hint of a violet tinge, the once spiky ice like structures on his spine and shoulder are less pronounced and fragile looking. From his back left leg is a vicious deep scar that trails toward the front of his ribcage, his movements shifting his leg and revealing the once broken and crushed bones of his leg; the scars of an injury that can never truly heal.
"What….." Spyro gasps, "what happened to you!" They both stare in horror at his injuries, his once unblemished body now marred and broken.
He looks at his student's sadly, their surprise and horror not shocking to him as he explains, "the world has not been peaceful since Malefor's defeat. If this injury is the price I paid to prevent an all out war than I would gladly pay it again."
Spyro's eyes downcast, "I thought that Malefor's defeat was supposed bring an age of peace…"
"And it did, but the problems that preceded the war did not simply disappear with its conclusion. But now it not the time for such a story…"
"Cyril" Spyro stops him, "please tell us. We need to know everything that's happened since we left."
Cyril looks to each of the three in turn, he sighs sits on his hunches and speaks. "After Malefor's defeat the Dragon Realms was split asunder and risen into the sky, we believe this was a part of his plan to destroy the world, but thankfully you were able to stop him. The devastation did not spread far beyond the Dragon Realms, as such not all of the world is like this. However you might of noticed the regeneration of the world was far faster than expected in such a relatively short time span," a nod comes from Cynder while a confused look comes from Spyro and Flame. This wasn't the first time Flame had heard this story but he never really understood it very well.
"The lack of spirit and life gems appears to be traded off for other…. Abnormalities. The most obvious is the plants of the world, the march of Malefor's armies devastated the forests and grasslands of the world; yet somehow what should of taken decades to grow back took years. Crops became so easily farmable that many could focus upon the reconstruction of the world; the new Dragon Temple should of taken decades to complete, instead it only took three years. Some beings has developed more… unique powers, there's a dragoness in the city capable of levitating objects with her magic and there's rumors of an Ice dragon with Ice as clear as glass. And it's not just dragon's either, there are some among the moles and Atlawas too; rumors of some among the cheetahs are common but due to the prevailing relations with the kingdom of Avalar they're unconfirmable."
"However, despite the miracle that had saved the world, the people were not happy; it's not as if they were ungrateful; but they were not fools. Many had known that Malefor was trained by the Guardians and viewed the arrogance of dragons as being what helped drive Malefor to attempt to end this world. Many had started to question the wisdom of being led by the Guardians, as we are in no way capable of being held accountable; although we agreed we nearly faced conflict before the Council of Warfang was established."
"But what about your injuries, you mentioned there was fighting?" Spyro asks.
"There was nearly fighting" Cyril points out before his face falls. "During the political turmoil caused by those events one group attempted to take power; by claiming the same divine hereditary right as the dragon kings of old my family tried to seize control. Using the false pretense of keeping the peace during the transitional period my surviving family were to attack the Temple… my own brother betrayed us. With those events I've official left my family, my heritage behind, I no longer consider myself royalty; even if royal blood does flow through my veins."
"Did you have to fight your brother?" Flame asks, he hadn't been told the full story of Cyril's family's betrayal.
"No, it was before you formally joined the Temple so you weren't there. Hearing rumors of my family's claims King Prowlus sent his most trusted agent; Targ. Targ…. Targ has a kind and understanding heart, but is dreadfully stupid, although the exact words escape me at the moment he somehow became convinced I agreed with my treasonous older brother. He struck from the shadows crushing my leg with his club and leaving me with this scar, it took everyone involved to bring the powerful warrior down. Through the battle everyone was too injuried to continue fighting so the coup failed; somehow my leg was sacrificed to prevent an all out civil war. Like I said a price I would willingly pay again," Cyril finishes his speach clearly tired and needing rest.
Before anyone else could have a say, "I have one more question. Dragons, although not perfectly immortal like Malefor, do not age after adulthood. And the injuries you've described does not account for the change in the coloration of your scales, what else happened?"
"I was finally able to work with that annoying swift tongued dragon," Cyril chuckles "it was merely two years ago, an epidemic called the Greyscale disease began sweeping through the remaining draconic populations of the world. The effects drained a dragon's magic and somehow interfered with the pigmentation of a dragon's scales; hence the name Greyscale. It stuck dragons by targeting our special magic, our breath based Dragon Magic. We worked for nearly a year to develop a cure, although once it reaches the final stages not even that can save them. When I succumbed to it Volteer pulled enough all-nighters to finish the development, I owe him my life."
"Things have been eventful around here haven't they…" Cynder trails off.
"Indeed, however for now I need to go rest, those stairs are more of a challenge than they used to be" Cyril declares before limping away back down the stairs. Watching him go they see him struggle and they all hurt for him, however they all know in turn that his pride would be wounded in their efforts.
"I wish I could have been there to of done…. Something…" Flame mutters. Shaking his head and accepting the fact that nothing can be done about it, "let's try to forget this awful nonsense." Leading the pair over to edge they all gaze out at the setting sun as it falls below the walls of the city.
"I didn't realise I was studying for so long…" Cynder mutters.
"Same here" Spryo agrees, "it's beautiful though…"
"It is," she agrees shifting her gaze towards Spyro. After Nero's question earlier she's never wanted to tell him how she feels more than right now; during their journey here she'd somehow pushed the feelings down and convinced herself she felt differently. But things were different now; there was no denying how she felt, only a cold understanding of things that cannot be. Cynder closes her eyes as she decides to wait, with their failure to find any kind of stopgap today the possibility of her leaving only grows, she can't bear the idea of him following her and getting hurt.
Although Spyro's eyes are locked on the horizon Flame's are not, looking over at the young dragon between them he sees how she looks at him, yet the loving caring look on her face is marred with rejection and concern. Although Flame doesn't understand the reason behind it, he shifted his gaze away, he recognizes that although she might just be the most beautiful dragoness he's ever met, her heart is set elsewhere; as well as his own.
"We should go back to studying, the night is still young and we have much work to do," Cynder announces ending their sight seeing. The three agree, even roping Flame to come research with them, as they head back into the depths of the mountain. "Three days…" she mutters remembering the time limit.
"Are you sure this is the best course of action?" Ember calls out into the darkness surrounding her, although it once pressed in against her recently it has pulled back. The path forward has started to come into view after she went to sleep after Spyro's arrival.
"It is the only course of action, she's moved forward her time table, so we must as well," the Terror explains.
Embers eyes become down cast at her words, "that's not what I meant…" she breaths.
"I understand youngling, the burden you carry must weigh heavily, in fact I would not of joined with you had you been sadistic enough to enjoy this," her soothing and calm voice reassuring the young dragon. "One should never lose sight of their reason for doing something, especially something of such grave importance. When Spyro and I defeated Malefor twelve years ago we were sealed away using the remainder of his Time powers, the taint within my mind was not. The same vile being that had been fused with my soul at the Forge retook my body and has been masquerading as me, the awful things she plans for him make even my soul shutter. If we don't stop her not only will Spyro be sacrificed to the Abyssal Forge; she'll spread the corruption across the land, completing the mission her master failed."
Nodding in understanding, "but why me? Why do I have to be the one to do this?" Ember sobermingly requests.
"Because the horrors your young mind witnessed at her hands have left your mind vulnerable, Flame could of been a worthy candidate; but his devotion to protecting his friends will leave him… unwilling to take even the first step of our plan."
"And what might that be?" Ember asks.
"She suspects we'll strike in three days; so we'll strike in two. Now that they've returned to the city our connection will be even stronger, I can combine my powers with yours..."
"And we can beat her!" Ember interrupts ready to fight for the world.
"No!" she harshly corrects before her tone softens again, "I understand your desire for power but she's simply too powerful. We need to drive her away so that we may develop our powers together before she returns to claim the purple dragon," she pauses expecting the interruption.
"And how are we going to do that?" she asks excitedly, this is her chance, her chance to finally be strong and heroic like everyone expects her to be. She won't be a disappointment anymore.
"Simple, we'll frame her for attempted murder."
Ember blinks looking up at where the voice was coming from in confusion, through the mist she notices that she can see a small shape moving out there toward her. Somehow it's presence comforts her, shaking the feelings away she asks, "how are we going to do that?" Eliciting a menacing chuckle from the darkness as it grows in closer around her, comfortingly blanketing her as the shape approaches.