Okie dokie, it's time to jump into the longest fight scene I've written so far. After some final goodbyes, just in case.

When last we left off Cynder had learned that her fear element was more complicated than she thought, not fear, not hatred, but emotion itself. Wielding this new knowledge, for however much it's worth, she's ready for their attempt to destroy Hope once and for all. Pleasure is getting a bit of TLC to recover from her part of that harrowing experience.

Meanwhile Malefor and Imperia have agreed that the magic dome in convexity is a good enough battle arena for their purposes. There is nothing left to do but take their shot.

The piece of music for this chapter is 'The Hour of Twilight' by Zephysonas. It's on youtube, as most of the music I suggest is. It's a beautiful orchestral piece, intense, tense, and perfect for an impending fight.

Neither Spyro nor Cynder were able to tell the time from underground. Spyro had a reasonably good sense of time, but even so it scrambled his internal clock a little bit to have been away from the sun for so long. Cynder was completely lost, no idea if things had been going for minutes or hours and no idea what day it was. Still she ate when she was hungry, slept when she was tired, and otherwise just muddled through.

She knew enough to know that they'd been talking to Pleasure for less than an hour, and she wasn't too worried about Malefor and Imperia being gone for that long. Besides the conversation had been reasonably enjoyable.

Cynder did not consider herself to be a sparkling conversationalist, but Pleasure was ten times worse than she was.

Poor Spyro really was pulling all of the weight in the discussion. He didn't complain, didn't seem to mind at all, but Cynder still felt a bit sorry for him.

At least they were both good listeners though. Spyro was telling them an abridged and sanitised version of their adventures, carefully avoiding any words which might stress out Pleasure, and it had both girls completely enraptured. Even the bits Cynder had been there for sounded new and exciting coming from Spyro's mouth.

That might have just been because of his voice, smooth, not too deep, not too loud. Just nice. But he was genuinely making the story very interesting, and Pleasure was raptly attentive, looking back and forth between them both with awe and fascination.

Gradually she began to ask questions of both Cynder and Spyro, and Cynder picked up from the questions that whatever Darkmire had done to her, she'd gotten at least most of her memories about Cynder back again.

Eventually Cynder just had to ask. She waited until Spyro had reached a suitable stopping point in the story before speaking up.

"Hey Pleasure? I have a question for you."

Pleasure turned towards her, looking as ridiculous as always, sunken eyed face and skinny little neck with those massive oversized horns crowning and framing her head. But her expression was open and interested and looking as healthy as Cynder had ever seen her. "What's the question Cynder?"

"Well… Do you remember walking down to the bottom of this cave?" She asked.

Pleasure's face fell slightly at the question. "I… think so…"

Cynder pushed on, hoping that she'd soon be able to turn that expression around. She really needed an answer. "You and me. We walked into the darkness together, right?"

"R-right…" Pleasure nodded.

"You remember that?"

"I think so… Yes…" She said quietly.

"I just wanted to say… that was really really brave of you." Cynder said.

"Brave?" Pleasure blinked in confusion. "Of me?"

Cynder nodded. "You say Spyro and I are brave, and sometimes we are. But often the things we do which are meant to be brave are things we have to do, or things we already knew we could do. You did something which was a whole different kind of brave. You did something scary, and you did it willingly, and you did it to try and help others. That right there was true bravery."

Cynder shrugged awkwardly. She hadn't got a smile from Pleasure, but at least she wasn't getting muttered names.

"I just… thought you deserved to know that."

"You think I'm brave?" Pleasure said eventually, her voice filled with quiet amazement. "That's… amazing."

She looked up and there were tears welling up in her eyes.

"That really means a lot."

Imperia and Malefor reappeared in a flash of purple light, only a few steps from where they'd disappeared.

"Whew, I thought we might come back in a wall." Imperia laughed.

Cynder heard this, raising her eyebrow. She got up and walked to the bars of the cell they were using as a room, looking out as the other two returned into sight and walked back down the corridor to join them.

"I've never come back in a wall so far." Malefor said. "Still I'm glad that we did return in the same place, even from the other side of the bubble."

"What's all this?" Cynder asked curiously.

"Hey Cyn, Spyro, Pleasure." Imperia smiled brightly at them. "Everything good here? We have fantastic news!"

"Everything good here." Spyro said with a nod. "We've just been talking."

"And we trimmed Pleasure's nails." Cynder added.

"Ooh, can I see?" Imperia peered in through the bars while Malefor opened the door and stepped back inside.

Pleasure looked at her blankly, nodding. "Sure."

"Hold up your paw." Cynder said helpfully. She demonstrated.

"Oh." Pleasure held up her paw and showed it to Imperia, showing her wonky but at least no longer cracked nails.

Imperia giggled. "Heehee, I really need to do your nails for you. No offence, but they're still a total mess."

"None taken." Spyro said with a shrug. "I've never trimmed nails before."

"They're just naturally perfect." Cynder said approvingly.

Spyro blushed and chuckled. "Thanks."

Pleasure put her paw down, smiling uncertainly. "Well… thanks I guess. I think Spyro did his best."

"He did a really good job." Imperia said, nodding. "The number one mistake made when trimming claws is to trim them too far down. That can cause bleeding, but Spyro has cleverly avoided it."

"Imperia has been known to get an occasional manicure." Spyro said.

Imperia nodded in agreement. "Polishing, buffing, washing, trimming a little. I don't need it often, the more you use your claws the better shape they'll be in, and I do use my claws for training somewhat often. Still it's just enjoyable, and I've learned a lot about how to do it for myself."

"That sounds nice." Pleasure said, nodding.

"I'm sure they're lining up halfway around Warfang to do your nails Imperia. But lets get back on topic." Cynder said. "What's all this about great news? Did you figure out how to operate the magic bubble?"

Imperia grinned and nodded. "More or less. The bubble is indestructible, it absorbs magic and uses it to become even more powerful, and it's impossible to overload it because the more energy you put into the bubble the bigger it becomes! It can get as big as you want and it's just fine."

"Right…" Cynder nodded. "Makes sense."

"So it absorbs all elements?" Spyro asked. "Is it dangerous?"

"Nope, it's harmless to touch, safe to walk through. Inside the bubble there is gravity, outside the bubble you float around." Imperia said. "Hopefully it will stop dark sides from passing through. We don't know for sure though unfortunately. We'll have to test that."

"Seems like a pretty vital thing to test." Spyro said.

Imperia giggled. "Indeed. But at least the dome is pretty fantastic."

"Okay… how about changing it? What if they just changed the dome so it became fixed size or whatever?" Cynder asked. "What's it actually made of? Would it break if I punched it?"

"It's made of pure energy, the symbols which maintain it are formed from light refracted through its outer surface. It is immune to punching and penetration. The only thing which might poke a hole through it would be a full power blast of convexity, and even then we're confident it would be open for less than a second and would come back stronger than ever. As for how you interact with it, the only way would be to disassemble the outermost shell first. It's impossible to deconstruct from the inside."

"Fancy." Cynder said.

"So forgive me for asking, but why haven't we made something like this before?" Spyro asked. "Because that's not how symbols usually work."

"Well, because we would need a source of magic big enough to keep it in a constant state of rippling due to absorbing energy. In Convexity that need is satisfied by the stars. Oh, and that reminds me. There is a massive star right outside the dome. You can't look up or it will sting your eyes really badly."

"Understood." Cynder and Spyro both nodded.

"I don't know what we're talking about." Pleasure said. "But you all sound happy."

Cynder smiled. "We're planning how to save you and Spyro. I think we can do it, assuming Malefor and Imperia are right about what they've found out so far."

"Oh, I'll have to keep you company Pleasure." Imperia said. "The others will need to go away for a little while."

Pleasure's face fell slightly. "Oh… okay…"

Imperia gave her a reassuring smile. "They'll be back and better than ever soon once they're done."

"Right." Pleasure nodded. "I trust them."

"I, ah, might not be able to get too close to you." Imperia said. "Your other side doesn't like me very much."

She tapped her claws thoughtfully.

"I don't know how everyone else is feeling, but maybe we should take a little break, and I'll very carefully trim Pleasure's nails. As long as that goes well then Spyro, Cynder and Malefor you guys can go and try to do the thing whenever you're ready."

"I'd be ready now." Cynder said with a shrug. "But we shouldn't go until we're sure." She looked at Malefor.

He nodded slightly. "I'll gladly take a few minutes just to make sure, but I think I'll be ready."

Spyro nodded. "I don't know if I should be fighting fit or if things would be better if I was exhausted, but I'm certainly feeling ready for a fight."

Cynder sighed. "It's so weird actually preparing for a fight instead of just wandering into it. That it's just there waiting for us when we're ready to take it."

"Going into a situation with a plan seems normal enough to me." Malefor said thoughtfully. "But I freely admit that yourself and Spyro have more experience in the area of combat than myself."

Imperia opened the door and cautiously joined them in the cell. They all glanced at Pleasure cautiously, waiting to see if there was a sudden sign of aggression from her dark side, but there wasn't.

Imperia maintained a respectful distance, working her way around the room and picking up the clippers.

"So… do we want to see if we can make this work?" She spun the clippers around a claw lightly.

Malefor eyed the situation apprehensively. "I don't like this."

"I'd like my nails clipped again." Pleasure said hopefully. "They don't scrape against the floor as much. I feel like I could walk on them by myself."

"Lets do it then." Spyro said. He and Cynder both backed away from Pleasure slightly, keeping a small distance but still close enough to be reassuring.

"Okay, can I have your paw?" Imperia asked.

Pleasure obediently extended a paw, presenting her nails.

Imperia moved in closer, as she got to the point where her fully outstretched arm could touch Pleasures there was a slight warning pulse of magic, making them all tense.

"Imperia, drop your wind magic. Your wind senses might be triggering her notice." Malefor suggested.

"Aww… but I never drop my wind magic." Imperia grumbled, but she reluctantly did so.

They all breathed a sigh of relief as the pulse faded away.

"Okay. Duly noted." Imperia said with a slight laugh. She reached in and started to trim Pleasure's nails.

Each 'crack' of the scissors got them all nervous again, but Darkmire didn't put in an appearance. Cynder wondered if the dark black dragoness was giving them the silent treatment after what had happened between them last time. Not much of a punishment in her opinion, if anything it was a massive improvement.

Imperia finished trimming all of Pleasure's nails and stepped back to admire her handiwork, nodding in satisfaction.

Pleasure stared down at her paws, smiling. "Wow…"

They were far from good, but they were much better than they had been before. Imperia had gone hard on the excessively long and misshapen nails, trimming them back to half the length they had been. Even with that done they were still twice as long as they should have been, but Imperia knew not to push it any further than that until they'd had time to regrow a little. She'd also trimmed excess from their tops and bottoms, neatening them up into points rather than being cut off flat halfway.

"Can I walk on them?" Pleasure asked in wonder.

"You can sure try." Imperia nodded, stepping back and idly using the scissors to brush dust off her pristine claws.

Cynder moved in and helped Pleasure get to her feet, assisting the fragile dragoness to get up. After she thought Pleasure looked somewhat steady she let go, allowing her to stand unaided.

Pleasure's legs bowed slightly, she looked like her enormous horns were going to drag her straight down, but she didn't fall. She fixed her eyes on the far side of the room and then she walked, looking like at any moment she could topple over, but making it to the far side. She hit the wall with a slight thud, leaning her shoulder against it and panting.

"They're so good!" She stared down at her feet.

"You're not bad yourself." Imperia giggled. "I'm amazed you had enough muscle on those bones to lift yourself."

Pleasure shrugged, smiling in blissful contentment. "I did it. You all have helped me so much already. This is amazing."

"Do you want help getting back to bed?" Cynder offered.

Pleasure thought for a moment, then nodded. "Yes please. I don't think I can manage that twice."

"Your horns aren't helping." Spyro observed. "Can horns be trimmed?"

Imperia rubbed her head, brushing a paw over her own horns which where very small. "Yes, but mine are like this naturally. I've never trimmed a horn before."

"We can still try I guess." Cynder said with a shrug. "Some of hers are already cracked anyway, if we take them off at the cracked spots and neaten them up that should take off at least some of the load."

Together Cynder and Pleasure made their way back to the bed and settled down there again.

"Water please?" Pleasure asked hopefully.

Cynder happily provided the waterskin and Pleasure took a deep drink.

"Can you please try and do the thing to my horns too?"

Imperia nodded, smiling. "Sure I can try."

She moved in, bringing the scissors back again. There was another threatening pulse of magic as she got close, but she remained respectful, gently and carefully trimming down the horns as much as she dared to. The end result was a bit lopsided and ridiculous looking, but quite a significant amount of horn had been taken off. Pleasure turned her head this way and that, sighing in relief. "Oh wow… that's so much better."

"No problem." Imperia said sweetly. "This was fun. I look forwards to doing it again."

"So it would appear that the two of you are safe to be alone together for a little while." Malefor said. "In that case I think that's the final thing which was keeping us from beginning the process."

Cynder clenched her paw in excitement and nervousness. "No more breaks then. No more preparations. It's time to fight."

Spyro got to his feet, doing his best to look calm and confident. He smiled at each of them. "I'd just like to say thanks and good luck. I'll do my best to help you."

"You saved my ass from my dark side. It's only fair I save yours." Cynder said with a smile.

"Indeed." Malefor nodded.

Imperia shuffled her feet awkwardly. "Umm… Spyro? Can I give you a kiss?"

Spyro blushed heavily and looked to Cynder. "Uh…"

Cynder rolled her eyes. "If he lets you then sure."

"Okay…" Imperia mumbled, blushing as well. "I just didn't want to surprise you with one, especially not when it might be the last kiss you get before, well, such a dangerous situation."

"I'm not kissing him after you just because things might get dangerous." Cynder grumbled. "I have this whole stupid 'love dragon' label already. I don't need to go around giving kisses too."

"I'd still like one though." Spyro said with a teasing smile at her.

Cynder scowled and huffed. "Fine, I'll give you a kiss right after Imperia does."

Spyro smiled happily at that. "Any excuse to get a Cynder kiss."

"Any excuse for Imperia to get a Spyro kiss more like." Cynder muttered.

Imperia blushed and giggled. "Well I can't deny that." She leaned in and gave Spyro a light kiss. "I'd hate to leave anything unsaid, so I just want you to know that I adore you and love you very much."

Spyro nodded slightly. "Uhh… you too. We should definitely go on a date sometime."

"With Cynder too." Imperia said.

Cynder rolled her eyes. "Why do you have to flirt with everyone I know?"

"I flirt with everyone anyone knows." Imperia laughed. "This is a deeper relationship."

"And you seem to have a deeper relationship with everyone I know." Cynder said.

"It's not my fault you have such good taste." Imperia laughed.

Cynder sighed and smiled. "Well said. I adore and love you and all that stuff too Imperia." She walked up and gave Spyro a kiss and an affectionate nuzzle. "There, now are we ready to go?"

The two purple drakes nodded, and Malefor stepped outside the cell, reaching up and creating a rift in space for them.

"Okay. Let's do it. All together, and then the moment we're through get some distance from each other." Malefor said.

"I'll go in the middle." Cynder said, stepping between Spyro and Malefor.

Spyro leaned in, his presence warm against her. "You got this, nightmare girl. I love you." He whispered in her ear too quietly for the others to hear.

"On three?" Malefor asked.

The others nodded.

"One… Two… Three!"

They all stepped forwards, into the light. The last thing Cynder heard from the real world was Imperia's voice wishing them good luck.

Cynder landed on stone in a ready crouch, then darted across to one side, turning and facing back the way she'd come and taking in the scene with a quick glance.

The star was bright and massive, just like she'd been warned. It beat down on them with not just light and heat, but some strange magical force as well. Something about it felt just a little bit familiar, old memories of Convexity perhaps, because Cynder could think of no other reason why it would feel that way. She definitely avoided looking at it.

The ground was annoying, breakable stone, but mostly flat. Like fighting on a very shallow staircase. There were some shadows around for her to melt into, but not many. Further away Cynder could see the dome she had been told about, it was big and dark and a little bit shiny. That was all she cared not notice, once she'd gotten a mental map of it's height and width she knew all she really needed to know. It would take her about five seconds to get from one side of the dome to the other. That's the only thing which was really important about it. As long as Hope couldn't get out of it she didn't care for anything else about it.

That thought rapidly brought her back to the most urgent thing which required her attention: Spyro.

He was standing hunched over, black smoke gathering around him. For a long moment he was still Spyro, and then he clenched his paws and let out a roar as a blast of darkness burst outwards, shattering stone in a circle around him.

Hope looked up, his eyes seeing Malefor, then Cynder. He gritted his teeth, closing his eyes. A few tears rolled down his cheeks.

"You brought me here to kill me, didn't you?" His gaze pinned her, accusing. A mixture of sadness and fury on his face.

"We're here to save Spyro. I gave you a chance, but all you could think about was destroying the world and how much you wanted to love me." She shook her head. "So we have to take you down."

"Fine. Fine! Have it your way then! If you die you die, and I'll see you again in the next life."

His eyes turned bright yellow and his horns sharpened to deadly points, his bones and ribs shifting slightly as he grew broader and bulkier. He bared his teeth and the remnants of the scar which Darkmire's acidic venom had left on the side of his face rapidly healed away.

"Not going to attempt escape?" Malefor asked, gesturing to the dome.

Hope gave them a bitter smile. "Why would I? You barely beat me last time. This time you can't hide."

"Then I suppose I'll just have to throw you at the wall and see if you go through it." Malefor mused.

"You're welcome to try, you old snake."

Hope raised a paw and a shudder ran through the stone, racing from the ground at his feet straight to where Malefor stood. Malefor dove out of the way just in time as deadly spikes of rock burst up from where he had been moments before.

Cynder darted inward, then shrouded herself in shadow, stepping out from behind Hope and raising a paw. She sent a pulse of her emotion magic straight at him.

The result was instantaneous, she could feel Spyro so close under the surface that she almost didn't feel Hope in between them at all. Spyro was reaching out to her with all of his might, and she reached straight back.

Hope roared in surprise, feeling the world seem to split in two around him. Cynder turned into two mirror images, and suddenly he could see two different worlds.

In the first he stood on a mountain under a pink and blue sky, with Cynder's paw pressed against the back of his skull.

In the other he was flying, looking down at Cynder who was standing below him on a spot of green in a calm ocean, reaching out towards the figure of Spyro who was getting to his feet and shaking dizziness from his head.

Hope bellowed in anger in both worlds, his movements clumsy as he charged towards both versions of Cynder at the same time.

The dream Cynder stiffened in shock, and she had to jolt herself back to reality just in time to dodge Hope's attempt at a grab. Just like him her movements were jerky and hesitant, straining to control herself in two places at once.

She launched herself gracefully across the length of the bubble, narrowly missing crashing into the mountain peak, before situating herself up in the very middle of the glare from the sun, feeling it warm her back and her spread wings, filling her up with power.

Where even was she? Keeping track of what was going on was nearly impossible. The only relief was that Hope would be having exactly the same difficulty.

Hope tracked her movement, then flinched away as his eyes hit sunlight. Her dream control had been weakened, but not stopped. He couldn't see her!

And suddenly there she was in front of him. Dream Cynder grabbed him by the throat and she was strong and she spun them and hurled him downwards where he hit not water but a solid sheet of ice so thick that it didn't even break despite the painful speed he slammed into it with.

And there was Spyro, hauling him to his feet, lifting him up with a devastating uppercut to the jaw, and then dropping him straight back to the ground again with a lash of his tail.

Real world Cynder had her eyes closed and was in no state to see what was happening, but Malefor watched in wary optimism as Hope's body jolted violently, as if something had just hit him hard in the head, making him stagger. But then his eyes narrowed and he breathed in, casting a flurry of fireballs towards the star, a salvo of attacks attempting to hit Cynder where she was hiding and trying to stay out of his range.

Malefor beat his wings hard before the first fireball was even launched, winging his way upwards to intercept. He created a bubble of purple energy to absorb the first fireball with his body, the impact knocking him back slightly, but he raised a paw and bent the remaining fireballs off target, some of them slammed into the magic dome and vanished in rainbow light, but the others he gripped, clenching his paw and then thrusting it out at Hope to send them straight back again.

"It feels so good to finally punch you in the face!" Spyro said with a grin, and the ice exploded under Hope, hurling him into the air where Cynder hammered him with a powerful blast of wind, throwing him down onto the ice again a short distance away. She landed gracefully beside Spyro and bumped shoulders with him affectionately.

"You like it?"

He beamed at her. "I love it! This is amazing! We can even touch each other!"

"Just gotta make sure Malefor keeps me safe in the real world while we smack him around in here." Cynder said, her eyes going unfocused for a moment as she snapped back to Convexity to see what was going on.

She was rewarded with the sight of Hope reacting to being hit by his own fireball. A pulse of heat came off Dream Hope and he staggered back with a roar, while in the real world he was enveloped by bright light that left black scorch marks on his scales.

Real world Hope took to the air, lightning crackling around him this time. He lashed out clumsily towards Malefor and Cynder, then gathered wind around himself and launched towards them.

Dream Cynder yelped in surprise as Malefor grabbed her and shoved her out of the way, feeling herself skid several feet sideways along the ice raft Spyro had made for them. It was a weird sensation, but she quickly realised the necessity of it as Hope shot past her real world self, trailing lightning, claws outstretched.

Centring herself, Dream Cynder jumped up into the air, looking down at the Hope who was in the dream with them, getting to his feet. She created a blade of wind and brought it down hard on top of him, even as Spyro sent a pulse of lightning through the ice towards him. The combination of attacks only made Dream Hope angry, but they broke his concentration just enough that the real Hope wasn't able to stop his wind rush in time. He impacted the wall of the bubble, howling in pain as to him it was solid and unmoving, his head and shoulder slammed against it, sending ripple after ripple shooting out from the point of impact as it drained the lightning from around him. He shoved himself back off it, lashing out wildly with fire and lightning now that he could see Cynder and Malefor clearly, but they couldn't see him due to the glare of the sunlight.

Cynder yowled in pain and annoyance in both the dream and reality, feeling the fire deflect mostly harmlessly off her scales, but the lightning pierced through her and made her vision fade for a moment.

She couldn't even keep track of where she was in a single world, let alone two. Everything was just happening so fast. She gritted her teeth in pure determination. Hope was going through exactly the same thing, and she wouldn't let him win. She fought to regain control.

Spyro felt the world flicker around him slightly, and Hope's power surged, but then Cynder recovered and the world returned to normal.

"Keep… him busy…" Cynder growled, melting into his shadow, turning it black and inky and replacing the silhouette of his horns and tailblade with those of Cynder.

"That's really cool just so you know." Spyro said to his new shadow, then he charged forwards, engaging Hope in hand to hand combat. Their strength was evenly matched, going blow for blow in a rapid flurry of attacks. Then his shadow bent across the ground and latched onto Hope's feet, and Spyro used the distraction to grab Hope's horns and slam him into the ground. He slammed once, twice, and Cynder's shadows started to flow over Hope's face, wrapping around and starting to strangle him. Hope let out a muffled roar and then exploded with fire and lightning once again.

Cynder was unharmed, and Spyro caught most of the blast, wrestling for control of the magic between them, both purple drakes being forced backwards by it's power.

Unfortunately for Cynder being in shadows simply required too much power from her. It had always been one of her most draining abilities, and it was made much much worse by the fact that she was exerting emotion magic to keep the connection and wind magic to try and stay ahead of the barrage of lightning and fire which Hope was shooting all around him in the real world.

"Get on him!" She screeched at Malefor, diving for cover behind the mountain so she had a moment to focus on her dream self. She desperately needed her full attention in the dream.

Dream Cynder emerged from the shadows, a paw stepping on Hope's face, and she felt incredibly strong. Much stronger than she was in the real world. The red energy was giving her strength beyond what Hope could match in the dream world. However he still had magic of his own. Hope parted the ice below him and dived into the water to escape Cynder's grip, then fired several long spears of ice upwards at her. The spears were spread to catch her if she evaded, and the deadliest looking one was aimed at her heart.

Dying in the dream world hadn't phased Darkmire in the slightest, but Cynder didn't know if the same would hold true for her. She brought in a wind shield rapidly, blunting the spears and shattering them even as she hopped backwards. Spyro put a paw on the ice and growled in effort, shrinking the spikes and then bringing two heavy sheets together with Hope in between.

Hope protected himself in a sphere of rock, then reached out and put his paw on the ice as well, instantly melting a huge section of it. He sank into the depths of the water below them, vanishing from sight for the moment.

Cynder closed her eyes, panting slightly. "We need to chase him. But I have to keep track of the real world."

"I'll chase him." Spyro said, he went to the edge of the ice, gave Cynder a reassuring grin, and then dived in.

Cynder snapped mostly back to the real world, although still keeping close contact with Spyro, feeling his presence and his warmth. But before she could take a moment to properly recover the entire top of the mountain exploded.

Hope came howling and roaring through the storm of shattered stone, the pieces all sharpening into deadly points around him. Malefor was hot on his tail, but Hope turned and clenched a fist, raising his hand sharply and lifting a wall of stone between himself and Malefor, then turned back to Cynder and fired his arrows of stone.

She dove away from him, ducking and weaving, but he moved straight through the stones towards her, his paw reaching out. She tried to roll out of the way, but he predicted her movement and lashed out with a kick.

The blow was as strong as any she'd ever felt, even as she twisted out of the way the glancing blow caught her on the side of her skull and she lost her connection, snapping back to the real world. Her dream self turning into nothing but a cloud of red smoke that rapidly drifted away.

In the real world Cynder was sent bouncing and tumbling across the ground before she rolled to a stop, gasping and spitting out blood. Her head was ringing, and it took her several seconds to realise that she couldn't feel Spyro any more. He was alone with Hope.

Whew, off to a promising start, perhaps. But one slip is all it will take.

Writing this was really fun, and hopefully it was fun to read too! Let me know what you thought, if you like. Looking forwards to the next chapter!

Thanks for reading.

-4Dragons