CHAPTER 38- DEATH IN THE FAMILY

Spyro stepped closer to Cynder and she smiled widely at him.

"Cynder...what is this?" He asked approaching the thing in front of her.

"Its Ignitus' viewing pool. While I was closed up from the rest of you, Ignitus taught me how to use it." She said as he peered over the edge and saw something that brought a tear to his eye. Ember, sleeping in the grass.

"I know its not much, but any time you feel like you're forgetting the faces that matter most, you can come here. All you have to do is think hard about who you want to see." she explained.

"Cynder...I cant thank you enough for this..." He said as she draped a wing over him.

"You don't have to. This is my gift to you. I know how much you've lost on my account..."

He looked over at her with that same stern expression he had used so many times whenever she brought this up.

"If you don't stop blaming yourself for everything that's happened, I'm going to put you back into that crystal." He said lightheartedly this time.

She smiled and nodded as Spyro looked back into the pool, gazing at the image of Ember sleeping peacefully in the grass with a green tinge to it.

"You can also relive vivid memories with it." She said.

"Have you?" He asked

"Well, most of my memories, I'd rather not remember. But there is one I am fond of coming back to..." She thought

The vision pool cleared Ember from its depth and showed Cynder, biting off a piece of meat and running back to her room when Spyro leapt out from behind a column and scared her half to death. Cynder giggled at her previous reaction as she watched herself run away back to her room.

"I don't know whats funny about being cut! My chest hurt for weeks!" Spyro complained jokingly

"Aww, is the legendary Spyro hurt by a little scratch?" She mocked

"Watch it Cynder, you don't want me to get physical!" He said leaping at her as they began to play fight on the floor of the room.

After a while of wrestling, Cynder finally pinned Spyro down on the wooden floor.

"I let you win..." Spyro said defensively.

"Sure you did champ." She said s she let him up, holding her head high as if she had just taken gold at an Olympic event.

Spyro walked up to her and nudged her neck.

"Thank you Cynder...this means the world to me."

She nodded and answered.

"She meant the world to you. I figured this would as well." Cynder answered with a hint of sadness in her voice.

She walked out of the room to join the others in the main hall, leaving Spyro alone with the viewing pool.

At first, all he managed to see was a pink and purple blob, but after a bit of time and effort, he began to see clearly the face of the one dragoness he missed the most. After a few minutes reflecting on everything that had happened up until this point, he too went to join his comrades in the training room.

He found Austin teaching Lea the basics of traumatic injury treatment, something he could actually do now that he was a human again. She had quite an interest as it turns out. Having ruled a group of creatures harshly until near extinction, she felt remorse for her time under Malefor and by association Cynder. So she decided to learn the messy if not helpful art of medicine. He had made a straw dummy and simulated an arrow wound with a stick and some sheep's blood, which he kept pouring onto her busy claws to simulate the bleeding that would occur if this actually happened.

Flame and Snow where asleep in each others arms in the corner, as he half expected. Cynder was watching Nero and Ash try to increase their abilities with the bows Hunter had crafted them while Draganta and Silro had a power contest, destroying old slabs of rubble from the old temple.

As he looked at all this, he saw the smiles and good feelings on his friends faces, something he thought he would never see again. A feeling of normalcy in a dark and twisted world that used to be his beautiful home had set in. As hard as it was to think of life without Ember and the guardians, it seemed to get easier as the days passed. Their memories did more to comfort him rather than cause him grief like they used to. In fact he actually smiled when he thought of those he had loved and lost. It certainly was a strange feeling living without the guardians, but it was one he could endure, as long as he had at least one companion. One that was growing increasing closer to him as time passed. One he found himself thinking of when idly staring out a window or absent mindedly listening to someone talk about something he wasn't interested in. Things seemed as if they were returning to relative order, although one question plagued his mind without end. When was the right time to try and attack Malefor? Usually some kind of signal from the heavens or the guardians told him it was time to fight. But with them gone, how was he to know now? All these thoughts settled in his mind as he approached Cynder and stood beside her as they both watched Ash and Nero argue over who's arrow fell closer to the bulls eye. This argument was quickly ended when Hunter hit the center of the target and continued to teach them the basics. Spyro lay down next to the sitting Cynder and he gently stroked the end of her tail with his, eliciting a smile and giggle from her as she turned her head back to watch the argument unfold before them.

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A map of the dragon realms lay across a large table in Malefor's giant throne room. He gazed contently at all the regions under his control, but his lust for more power soon crept up on him and he was again eyeing neighboring realms and the few parts of the existing one he did not yet control. The extreme North had no oppressing force, and refused to pay tribute to him. Unfortunately, he had sent three small armies up the mountainous slopes to destroy them, only to be destroyed themselves by the icy cold weather. Constant failure infuriated Malefor more than anything, to the point where he almost wanted to go there and destroy the village himself. He choose however to take out his frustration on a far easier target. His evil gaze shifted to a spot on the map reading "Dragon Temple" in an ancient looking script. He smiled evilly and summoned an ape commander.

"Yes my master!"

"Take one hundred soldiers...Level the dragon temple down to its last stone." He hissed satisfied.

"Yes Sir!" He said quickly taking his leave.

Malefor's glowing red eyes watched him go, and then turned back to the map and smiled as he lay a single claw on the map. It began to burn the spot where the temple was located as he laughed.

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Days passed and the residents of the temple seemed to be falling into a rut of sorts. Eat, train, sleep made up most of their activities, with the rest of the time being used for socializing or just resting in general. Spyro spent some of this time in the viewing room, looking at Ember and the guardians. But as he did this more and more, he realized that even though this was a way to see those he had lost again, that was truly its only purpose. You could see who you wanted, but you couldn't talk to them, or hug them, or do anything but look. In a way, it was kind of like a photo album for your mind. Your memories only happened the way you remembered them, and there was no deviation. Spyro soon grew tired of blankly staring while his loved ones slept on grass in a green pool of somehow solid liquid.

He left the viewing room to find Lea and Austin in a corner, he instructing her on how to properly wrap a bandage and keep a wound clean. The others were all outside, somehow convinced that even in the constant terrible weather, that a game of tag would be good exercise and keep them all from going insane with boredom. He looked, but didnt see Cynder anywhere outside, which struck him as odd because her door was open and she wasn't in her room when he passed by earlier. After a few more minutes of idle watching as he sat on his haunches enjoying his friends brief moment of childlike bliss, He heard footsteps coming behind him.

'That's got to be Cynder.' He thought not turning around to check. As he listened, they seemed to be getting faster the closer they got to him. Right before he turned around to greet whoever was clearly running at him he heard.

"Spyro get down!" She said jumping on top of him and flattening him onto the front steps as an arrow whizzed inches above his head and stuck with a thud into the temple door. All the play had ceased by this point as everyone fled toward the temple, followed by apes that seemed to be pouring out of the dead forest.

Hunter got off a few arrows as he ran backwards, stopping as they regrouped outside the temple steps. Cynder climbed off of Spyro and he asked her.

"How did you know-"

"No time to explain! There are 100 apes out there aiming to bring our heads back to Malefor!" She said as they others turned to fight. They jumped into the fray and began clawing, flaming, icing, earth blasting, and electrifying the opposing force.

Nero blew a torrent of sharp icicles into a group of attackers, while Ash shot molten lava over their commander, melting him into a pile of steaming goo.

Three apes with almost Hunter like accuracy fired their arrows at Silro's face. Thinking quickly, he used his wind screen technique and deflected the arrows back into the heads of his attackers, happy to have his powers back after shedding his skin.

Draganta, having used his draconic powers for most of his adult life opted for gritty, up close and personal combat, hacking and slashing any apes foolhardy enough to get within eight feet of him or his sharp tail.

Austin had only a spear he had carved the day before, which was working alright at the moment, but as more and more apes ganged up on him, they began scoring hits and cutting him up pretty well. He called to Snow

"Get My gun and get these guys offa me!"

Snow looked on the steps to see Austins pistol, loaded and ready to go. She remembered all of the things he taught her about guns in the human realms all those years ago, and applied them. She clicked the safety off, cocked it, and tried to take steady aim. She was never comfortable around guns, but a friends life was on the line so she had to act quickly. She closed one eye and...

An ape dropped to the ground. She smiled with excitement as she re-aimed and this time, fired all the shots in the clip. As the gun recoiled, she had accidentally closed her eyes while shooting, something Austin said was her biggest problem back in the human realms. She reopened her eyes to see all the apes on the ground, and Austin with a perplexed look on his face. She dropped the gun in shock.

He had felt three identical stings impact his chest, and stomach. Like bee stings on steroids they hurt like hell. He saw the apes around him fall dead and realized what had just happened before he began to loose his balance and stumbled in the direction of the temple before falling about ten feet away.

Spyro looked away from his battle and saw Austin on the ground bleeding, which filled him with dread at the thought that he would lose another ally. He made short work of the apes he was fighting, and so did everyone else and before they knew it, the threat had been extinguished. Except for one, which retreated back to Malefor with news that the old dragon temple had some new inhabitants...

Lea ran over to Austin with all the things she would need to heal an arrow wound. But unfortunately, he hadn't shown her how to treat bullet wounds because he was the only one with a gun. She decided it couldn't be much different that an arrow and would get to work as soon as she reached him.

Spyro was the first to reach him and flipped him onto his back.

"Austin! Oh my Ancestors you've been shot!" He said as Cynder killed her last attacker and hurried over, gasping at what she saw.

"No...I just got the wind...knocked out of me...I'm fine..." He said trying to get up, but finding movement more than a tall order.

Lea was next to reach him and ripped his shirt off with her claws to look at the damage.

"Three...I've never done three wounds before Austin." She said worried.

"Forget about that Lea...just like we...practiced." He said softly, fighting for breath at this point. Spyro and Cynder looked on in shock as Lea tried to save their friend.

"Hows this...for irony...huh? I'm the only one with...a gun...and it ends up...shooting me..." He said laughing a little but then coughing up some blood in the corner of his mouth.

The others soon found their way over to him, those that wanted to anyway. Snow was still in shock, leaning against the temple wall, staring blankly at the group huddled around the human.

"Spyro...In my room...there's a note...for you and the others...read it..."

"I wont have to! You aren't going to die!" He said adamantly, refusing by sheer will alone not to let another ally die.

"Listen...to me...you are these guys only hope. Don't... EVER...give...up..." He said as Lea's busy hands stopped in frustration and tears as the copious amounts of blood stopped emerging from his wounds.

"No...NO! You've never walked away from anything in your life! Don't you walk away from us now dammit!" Spyro yelled putting both claws on his shoulders.

Spyro waited for a response, but none came. He was gone.

I didnt mean for the cliffhanger answer to take so long I promise! cya next chap!