I walked forward into the door, glancing back curiously at the strange stones in front of it. It slammed shut behind us with a bang. I jumped.
"Wwwwwooooonderful," I said, rolling my eyes.
Our first obstacle wasn't really an obstacle at all. Just a small, quiet path. Behind its bend was a gate. As we approached it, two spider-orbs dropped from the sky. They were just like the ones we had encountered outside the building, except their orbs were red.
When they were dead, we pushed them into the holes by the door, flamed them, and continued on. Next was a room with lava in it. We glided over to some platforms sticking out of the lava. Here was a stone creature, which was very fast. Spyro got the notion to hit it (using Dragon Time, of course) and a door opened.
We glided over a big chasm to the other side, killed some spider-orbs, went through a door, killed some more spider-orbs, had to bash a another stone bug into the ground, went along a path, stepped into a portal... and encountered a large demon-like elemental crystal fire boss.
In more detail, it highly resembled the Executioner, except it sported a large club, was wearing blood-red armor, and had rubies embedded in said armor.
It was easy to defeat him, at least. Fire... strangely... did the most damage to him. He was pretty quick, though, so we were forced to use Dragon Time often.
From the ceiling, a platform lowered. Spyro and I jumped onto it and were raised back into the room we started in. The ice door opened.
We walked into the ice challenge room, flew over a poisoned lake of some sort, walked through a door, killed an ice creature (that resembled the electricity rock monsters from Concurrent Skies, but made out of ice), killed an orb, flew across a pool, killed some ice creatures, killed an orb, lit all the orbs in the area with so a door would open, walked through a door, killed and smashed into the ground one of the stone bugs, and walked into a portal, killed the ice boss who looked just like a fire boss except for the crystals on the armor where sapphires, ended up back inside the main room, walked into the electricity challenge, flew over a pool, killed some electricity monsters (just like the ice monsters), flew across another pool, went through a door, walked through a tunnel, broke a door, killed some electricity monsters, killed some spider-orbs, smashed a stone bug into the ground, went through a portal, killed the electricity spirit (the gemstones were amber), went up the ceiling thing, went into the earth challenge, blasted some orb holes with earth, went through a door, killed some earth monsters, went through a door, slammed two stone bugs into the ground, went through a door, killed some earth monsters, killed some spider-orbs, went through a door, flew over a pool, went into a portal, killed the earth demon (who had emerald gemstones), aaaaand... went up the platform and back into the ceiling one last time.
"Spyro, I have a feeling the female narrator will strike back soon," I whispered.
Now that all the challenges were completed, a portal activated, swirling with a mesmerizing purple light.
"Hold on. I think we've found it," Spyro said, walking up to the portal. "Hello? Is anyone there?"
"Hey, if there is, could we... you know, not wake it up? Because everything we've met so far has tried to kill us," Sparx said.
"Expose your heart to summon ghost, then face alone what you fear most," the female voice said.
"Uh... alone? Define, maybe?" I asked, looking up at the ceiling, but the person speaking did not answer.
"I knew it! This place wants us dead. We should've turned back when we had a chance," Sparx said, crossing his arms.
I usually don't give up, but he had a point. I mean, the whole... 'alone' thing was starting to worry me, not to mention I couldn't even prepare because I honestly didn't know what I feared most. I was afraid of a lot of things.
"I need to do this, Sparx," Spyro said, standing up. I stood up too, but backed away instead of walking forward. Spyro gave me a reassuring look.
"Yeah? Go ahead. Expose your heart and see what happens!" Sparx exclaimed.
I glanced at him sadly, then walked forward with Spyro.
"Wait..." Sparx said, flying in front of us. "Don't do it! You can't leave me behind in the wacky moon temple, with all the whispering walls and the wacky thingies! They want to make me part of their freak show!"
Spyro and I ignored him and stepped into the portal. My vision blurred white and faded.
~~...~~
It was all black. I was falling in an endless void, and I could not stop or fly. Spyro was not there.
"Pay attention, young dragon. The world is full of things to be fearful of, but you must learn to face your fears," a voice said.
"What am I afraid of?" I asked.
"There are many things in your life you are afraid of, and that is acceptable. A friend of yours once stated that all warriors feel fear, and he is right. But no matter what you fear, one day you must learn to cope with it."
"Like what?" I asked, my voice not rising above a murmur.
"There are four key points in fear: Loss, Conflict, Failure, and Restriction," the voice said. "You will always feel them throughout your life at least once, and many will be a combination of all these."
I stared into the void, and down to the ground that was not there.
"There are two things that you fear the most. The first involves Loss and Conflict. You are afraid of losing your family. You feel as if it has been torn apart in this war. When somebody dies, they are never truly gone. They live on, looking after you. You have not lost them, Crystal; your family is alive and they love you. That is something that cannot be torn apart."
I closed my eyes and exhaled. A white light emanated from my body, swirled around me, and flew into the voice.
"Good. Now, this next fear will not come and go so easily. It is a combination of all four key points of fear. You are afraid. Not of her... but for her. You are afraid that Cynder will return to darkness, and you will lose everything you hoped and strove for, but most of all, you are afraid you'll lose your friend. You must directly confront this fear, and banish it. It will still remain, but will not be as prominent as before. Are you ready?"
"Yes," I said.
"Good. Spread your wings."
I did. My eyes flashed again...
~~...~~
I stood up and looked around. This place was dreary and grey. I was standing on a black circular floor, that was floating. On four sides were statues of the strange dragon. The sky was dark and only the occasional thunder boom or lightning bolt penetrated the still air.
This place was dancing with familiarity, but I just couldn't place my claw on it. Where was this place from? I shivered.
I was alone. Spyro wasn't there. I suddenly felt very frightened, but I remembered the words of whoever was speaking to me in my dream. Spyro was still alive. Just because he wasn't here didn't mean we were torn apart. I stood up straight and waited for what I knew was coming.
Cynder appeared in the middle of the black floor, but it wasn't Cynder. It was the corrupted Cynder. She didn't look quite like herself, either. Rather than her normal colors, she glowed a red color.
Cynder stood up on her hind legs, roared, and charged towards me. She tried to slice me with her tail. I breathed earth, but it didn't even seem to hit her—in fact, it literally bounced off of her! I tried fire, and it worked.
Cynder changed color to yellow. By then I had the hang of things. I breathed electricity, and it hurt it. It seemed that whatever color she was, she could only be hit by the element relating to that color.
She sent me rolling with a swipe and changed to red again. I got up and breathed a blast of fire. She nearly hit me with the scythes on her wings, but I dodged.
Cynder changed to green. I used earth flail to hit her, but I couldn't knock her over. I dodged a swipe of her claws and breathed earth again.
Cynder changed to fire, but before I could do anything, she ran into me and knocked me over. Again. I rolled and nearly fell off the edge, but I luckily caught myself.
She changed to blue. I sucked in my breath and breathed a large and powerful ice bomb that hit her. Cynder stood up on her hind leg again before fading.
My world faded white again...
~~...~~
Sparx was sitting in a corner, looking as traumatized as he possibly could.
"Sparx, would you get up?" I asked, rolling my eyes.
Immediately, he plastered himself to my horn. "Crystal!" he screeched.
"Sparx..." I sighed and gave in.
I exchanged glances with Spyro. A new door had opened. Sparx let go of my horn and flew beside us, peering into the room.
"Let's get this over with," I muttered.
"Will you please try to keep a positive attitude?" Spyro asked.
I sucked in my breath dramatically. "No. Unless yelling at the Chronicler counts."
"No, yelling at the Chronicler does not count."
"Then it appears that I shall have a very negative attitude."
"That's strange, even for you."
I gasped dramatically. "I thought you really knew me!"
"Crystal..." Spyro groaned. "Cut it out. This is serious."
"Hello? Can we go, like, now? !" Sparx exclaimed.
"Hey, just 'cause you're older doesn't mean you can tell us what to—" I began.
"Get in there," Sparx said.
Spyro and I scurried quickly towards the door.