A/N: Happy late Thanksgiving all! I hope you had a wonderful time with your family as I did. Had some free time this past week, so I thought I'd release this next chapter.

"There we go… Welcome to your new home, guys." I said to the ants.

Now, you may be wondering, "what are you going to do with those ants?" Well, you'll find out soon enough. Unless, of course, you know what carpenter ants do. In which case, you can probably guess what I have planned. Anyway, after collecting the ants, I went to sleep. The next day, I waited for Spyro to return. When he did, he told me that the mountain had an entrance, but it was heavily defended on all sides by archers posted on wooden towers and a wooden balcony that wrapped around the mountain.

"Not for long." I said.

"What makes you say that?"

"Oh, you'll see...You'll see." I grinned mischievously

"Okay, I'm… just going to leave it there. Anyway, I'm thinking we build a trebuchet to punch a hole straight through the side of the mountain so me, the Guardians, and Cynder can fly in."

"Ah, the trebuchet… A masterpiece of siege weaponry… Look at that long, hard, wood shaft… Just imagine the satisfaction of polishing and greasing it...and then the pure ecstasy you feel when it shoots its load." I thought aloud.

"What?"

"What?"

We just stared at each other awkwardly with straight faces for what felt like hours before Spyro broke the silence.

"You have a...strange way of describing a trebuchet… Uh… Like I was saying, we use a trebuchet to punch a hole through the mountain, me, Cynder, and the Guardians fly in, you and your men advance on the fort, we all join up inside, and we go from there."

I nodded before repeating the instructions. "Alright, so gather our forces, march to the Well of Souls, set up camp, build a trebuchet, fire the trebuchet, you and the other dragons fly in and wreak havoc, meanwhile, the rest of us advance on the front entrance. We break through their defenses and meet up with you. That it?"

Spyro nodded. "Yeah, basically. What about the archers?"

"As I've hinted, I've already got a plan for that. If my plan doesn't work, then…"

"Then what?"

I scratched my chin in thought. "Let's see… We could order the cavalry to do a hit-and-run… No, the archers might hit them… Maybe the dragons could burn the towers and balcony down? No, they wouldn't do as much damage, and they might waste time that could be spent on the inside… Alright, infantry it is then… Hmmm… Oh! Yeah, that could work."

"A testudo." I said.

"A what?... Oh, you mean the first formation you taught the cheetahs. What exactly was it again?"

"To put it simply, A large group of soldiers with swords and shields get into a square formation and form a shield wall on all sides, they then move in unison so there is no gap and from all sides, the only thing that can be seen is a wall of shields."

"Alright, well looks like we've got everything we need in terms of planning."

"What about the apes?"

"What do you mean?"

"The apes aren't all that bad, you know. Personally, I believe Altan's story. At the very least, the part about current events. The… the things I saw back there will haunt me forever…. Children are either forced to work themselves to death, or sent to some conditioning and re-education camp at birth to be turned into brainwashed warriors of darkness. Women are seen as nothing more than livestock to produce more fighters or workers. One even tried to fight back. They decapitated her and impaled her head on a spike."

"What kind of monster would do that? To their own people, no less."

"The Gaul and Bartu kind. Please, brother. Stand with my decision to show them mercy, that is the bare minimum of what they deserve." I begged.

"I will."

Thank you. Now, let's go see your girl." I laughed.

"Brandon, she's not my-!" He tried to reply, but I was already too far away to hear him.

We entered the house where Cynder was recovering. The family who lived there formed a small crowd around her. One of them, an adult female, turned to us.

"She's awake." The wolf said.

"She is? Oh, thank the Ancestors!" Spyro exclaimed.

"She's not my girl!" I whispered under my breath in a mocking imitation of Spyro.

"Cynder. Cynder, can you hear me?" Spyro asked.

"Ugh...mmhhh… Huh?... Spyro?"

"I'm here, Cynder, I'm here."

"Brandon… We need…to…" Cynder struggled to pull herself up, but fell back to the ground.

"Easy, easy. He's here. He's safe. We all are. Just rest."

"Where are we?"

"You're in the Northern Forest. Home of our great tribe." One of the wolves said. "Welcome."

"Thank you for taking care of me."

I then emerged from the crowd. The dragoness looked different, similar to her Dawn of the Dragon appearance, but she was a lighter shade of purple, the shackles on her neck, front legs, and tail weren't there, neither were any of the symbols on her head, back, and shoulders, her maw was much bigger, more narrow, she was noticeably taller. To put her height into perspective, she was exactly my height when standing on all fours.

"Brandon! Oh, thank goodness you're alright!" She hugged me.

There was also something different about Cynder's… how do I put this without sounding crazy? Ah, screw it, I'm just going to say that Cynder's whole… vibe felt different. The lack of confidence, the guilt, the… negative feeling that I got from her, it was all gone, replaced by their polar opposites. Similar to the feeling I got from the woman in my dreams, but weaker. She whispered in my ear.

"You were right."

I knew what she meant. I was happy for her. Happy that she had not only gotten over her fears and made peace with her demons, but matured out of her silly little infatuation as well. We pulled away from the embrace, Cynder turned to Spyro.

"Spyro?"

"Yeah?"

"When this is all over, I'd like us to spend a week together. We'll both need it, so why not spend some quality time together?"

"Uh… Sure. Yeah… Yeah, I'd like that."

I winked at Spyro while smirking. He was about to say something, but seeing that Cynder was there, he held his tongue.

"Brandon," Cynder started, "it's nice to know that you're fine, that we all are, but we need to go. Like, now."

"What? What are you talking about?"

Cynder was silent.

"Cynder… What did you see while you were out?"

Days Earlier

Cynder trekked slowly down the path. The white flowers had long since been overtaken by the black ones. A familiar thick fog had set in. She knew what, and who, to expect. She heard screams, swords clashing and cutting through chainmail and flesh. She smelled smoke, inhaling made her cough, that's when the metallic taste of blood flew into her mouth. She opened her eyes to find one of Brandon's soldiers cutting down a female cheetah. She stabbed the soldier in the back of the throat with her tail blade before flinging its lifeless corpse away. She pressed on, cutting through soldiers that were either dragon or cheetah while using the dense smoke as cover. Eventually, she came to him.

"BRANDON!" She shouted, her voice was heard and felt all throughout the Realms.

The young man froze, saber in hand. He turned to face his friend. He seemed to be confused at how she was speaking.

"Call off the attack!" She demanded.

"Why should I? They are the ones who-"

"-have done nothing to you. Let them go."

"No. They have refused to join my fight against Malefor, I can't risk them joining him."

"So you respond by killing not just the men, but the women and the children too? Are they nothing more than animals to you? Because you slaughtered them like animals! Look at what you've done!"

Brandon was silent for a few seconds before shaking his head, sheathing his blade, and turning around. "I've done only what was necessary."

Cynder stared at her former friend in disbelief. Slaughtering an entire village is "necessary" to winning a war that same village isn't even involved in?

"I can't let you do this." She said as her eyes narrowed.

"And I can't let you stand in my way."

Brandon unsheathed his saber, Cynder took flight, the orange flames reflecting off her horns and his armor. She dive-bombed Brandon and clamped her jaws around his sword arm before rising into the air and diving back down at lightning speed. She slammed him into the ground. Brandon used his free hand to stab her in the shoulder with a dagger. She yelped in pain and rolled off of Brandon.

"Oh, Cynder. My dearest friend, Cynder. You see, in war, sometimes we must do things that… we may not necessarily agree with. But those things have to be done to ensure victory. Sometimes we must sacrifice one small village to save a thousand."

"You-" Cynder coughed. "You've gone insane!" She shouted.

"You think I wanted this? No. You think I don't feel remorse for these actions? I do. So have I really gone insane? I think not."

Cynder struggled to stand on her now injured front leg. "You may… feel remorse for your actions, Brandon. That doesn't make them any less horrible."

In an instant, she lunged at the human, her uninjured front leg swiped at his chest, but he dodged.

"Oh, come on, Cynder. You've done that almost a thousand times since our first training session."

Cynder spat a stream of poison at Brandon, he pulled out a shield and the poison bounced off of it. He yawned.

"Come on, Cynder. Do better."

Cynder took flight, but Brandon's perfect aim brought her back down with a single arrow before she could do anything. He took out his saber and started walking over to her. Four soldiers appeared from behind him.

"Hold her down." The human ordered.

"Yes, sir."

One soldier pinned her front legs, another pinned her back legs, the other two each pinned one of her wings. Brandon shook his head with disappointment in his eyes.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. You know, I wonder how Spyro defeated you. Then again, you were more powerful at the time. Come on, Cynder. Show me what the Terror of the Skies can do!"

Cynder felt it. The anger caused by him daring to suggest such a thing, her fear that it would take control, her guilt from what it had done, it all started to come back. Her scales darkened, her pupils disappeared.

"Yes. Yes! That's it. Let it take control. It gives you focus. Makes you stronger." The malevolent tone behind those words made Brandon's voice almost unrecognizable.

"NO!" She shouted, her voice becoming distorted.

"Must...resist…"

Her scales began changing back to their normal color only to turn black as night again, then back to normal, then black as night. She felt her head throbbing, she heard her heartbeat in her ears.

"You're trying to resist a change, that's not fair! Come on… Give in!" Brandon shouted encouragingly.

"No! I won't go back!"

Cynder felt a dagger slice deeper into her already wounded leg. She cried out in pain, the distraction almost making her lose control.

"Come on, let me out! LET ME OUT! LET! ME! OUT!"

"NEVER!"

"You feel that?" Brandon asked. "You're getting weaker. At this point, your fight is hopeless. It would be best if you just…you know, let it take control."

She could feel herself slipping, her thoughts became more violent.

"Kill them… Rip out their hearts, tear out their guts, feast on their flesh…"

Her words became more aggressive and angry.

"I'LL KILL ALL OF YOU AND YOUR ENTIRE FAMILIES! I'LL MAKE YOU PAY FOR WHAT YOU'VE DONE TO ME! I'LL SLAUGHTER EVERY MAN, WOMAN, AND CHILD WHO EVER KNEW YOU EXISTED!"

She was still there though, but just barely. Her tail was still free, it whipped around, almost on its own accord, slicing at the soldiers' arms, shoulders, and throats, but their armor protected them from harm.

"Only cowards hide behind armor."

"Ooooh, almost Cynder, but not quite." Brandon taunted.

"I'm going to enjoy torturing him."

"I can't...fight it…"

"Can't or won't? This is what he wants. What kind of friend would you be if you didn't let me take over?"

Her legs started thrashing around, but the soldiers had a good grip on her. She wouldn't be getting out that easy. She started biting at the soldier holding down her front legs. She was more successful in this attempt, she even managed to slice into his arm, so she tried again. She thrashed, kicked, and bit at the soldiers like a rabid animal until she finally broke free. She set her sights on one of the soldiers, she pounced and bit into its neck while using her tail to fend off the others.

"Atta girl! That's it!" Brandon cheered.

"I bet he won't be so smug when he's getting his intestines pulled out."

"I have…to stop…this…"

She finished off the first one and the second already had her tail blade through its throat. She slung it at the others, she heard a few loud cracks. The third was killed instantly, the fourth was immobilized. She loved this part. She walked over to him in a sultry manner, circled him multiple times while wrapping her tail around him, flashed the soldier a smile, and plunged her tail blade into the frightened soldier's chest, she lifted him up and planted a kiss on his cheek before ripping out his still-beating heart, each pulse spurting out blood. Using her tail as a fork, she consumed the organ. She made sure to lick herself clean. After all, what kind of lady would she be if she didn't?

"Now, Brandon, it's time for you to suffer."

Cynder started fighting it even more desperately now. If it stayed in control for much longer, there would be no turning back. She tried to calm herself down by focusing on other things. The good times she had with both Brandon and Spyro. The amusing anecdotes of Brandon's childhood. The denials from Sparx that he was afraid of her. The stories of Brandon's world and how she wished to see it one day. These thoughts made her laugh and smile. Soon, she was no longer consumed by anger or fear, but instead shielded by a feeling of happiness and joy. Her scales changed to a light purple, her pupils reappeared, and she felt a warm sensation on her forehead. And not from the fire raging around her. Brandon had a look of indifference which was odd, she thought that he cared for his soldiers. Brandon shook his head.

"It's unfortunate that things had to be this way. I offered you one last chance to join me, but you threw it away. Now you must be dealt with like all the others."

Cynder's only response was to take flight, Brandon again pulled out his bow, but this time, Cynder spun in mid-air to confuse his aim. She dove back down, headbutting Brandon in the chest. He was sent stumbling back before Cynder pressed her attack by slicing at the weaker parts of his armor. He blocked the claw swipes with his shield before pushing her claws aside and slashing at her head. She stepped back and charged the human, but he sidestepped and extended his sword arm. She got caught on the saber, cutting open her chest. She fell forward in a diving motion. She tried to get up, but Brandon kicked her back down. She tried again only for Brandon's boot to kick her again and again. One final kick sent her rolling away.

"Why did you turn away from me?" He asked.

Brandon started walking over to finish her off, but then, her saving grace arrived in the form of an ethereal sound in the wind, thunder, and fire. The ground split underneath them, shaking, shaking. Brandon stumbled back. Cynder found herself with restored strength, her wounds healed. Brandon dropped his sword and shield in the newly formed crevice, Cynder used this opportunity to spit acid at him. The acid bubbled and hissed, eating away at the metal plates as they fell off. She leapt over the cracked earth and clamped her jaws around one arm while slicing at the other with her tail blade. She shook him vigorously before sending him rolling away. She was about to finish him off before he sat up and raised his hand in defense.

"Wait! I thought you were my friend! I thought you loved me! I-I still love you!"

She froze. Admittedly she did have…feelings for him, they had even talked about it on the gate of the village, but...he rejected her. Why was he now trying to say that he felt the same? Was this even Brandon? That's when she connected the dots. Murder of the innocent, the cruel taunts, encouraging her to embrace her dark form, the malevolent tone, and now this? This wasn't Brandon she was looking at, this was some twisted version of him created by her irrational fears of what might be. In that moment she knew what she had to do. The love- no- infatuation she felt was a weakness. A restraint. And now it was time to break free.

"No. I no longer feel that way towards you. That feeling was a weakness just as my dark form was. But I am no longer bound by it. I no longer fear it and I no longer 'love' you." She spat near his foot before plunging her claws deep into his chest and ripping out his blackened, rotting heart. The life in his eyes started to flicker, an expression of anguish and defeat on his face. His head went limp and he let out one final rattling breath.

The smoke around Cynder thickened, blinding her. She moved forward trying to make out something, anything outside of the hazy cloud. Eventually, the smoke dissipated on its own revealing a man in a black suit and tie next to a white marble pedestal.

"Well, Ma'am, I see your conquest was successful."

She simply nodded before placing the heart on the pedestal. A golden gate materialized in a bright flash of light.

"Oh, one last thing, Lady Cynder," the man said, "you must take care, but move quickly. Time is not in your favor."

"I will."

"Good luck, Ma'am."

Cynder walked through the gate, a blinding light consumed her.

Present Day

"Alright, well the spirits haven't lied to us so far, so if they're saying we need to hurry, then we need to hurry." I said before turning to the wolves. "Gather as many of your hunters as you can spare, we'll need the support."

"Yes, Brandon."

We stepped outside. "Soldiers! Gather 'round! Quickly!" I ordered.

"Yes, sir?"

"First, I would like to address the effort each of you has put in. Had it not been for your efforts, we may not have gotten to this point. Even those of you who I haven't worked with directly. You are some of the greatest soldiers to ever fight a war, maybe even being on par with the legions of Rome, who were undoubtedly the greatest soldiers in human history. Your efforts-yes YOUR efforts- have effectively crippled Malefor's forces. Can you smell that in the air? Fear. We are getting closer and closer to crushing his dreams of world domination and now he is running scared, hiding in his mountain just as the Germans did in their bunker when the second world war turned against them. And just like the Allies in World War Two, we shall defeat the tyrant who has slaughtered millions of innocent men, women, and children. And even if we lose this battle, which I don't see happening as the situation is, we shall continue the fight for as long as we must, even if it may be for years. As Winston Churchill, the former Prime Minister of Great Britain, once said, 'we shall never surrender. We shall fight in the hills. We shall fight in the air. We shall defend our home. Whatever the cost may be.' We shall fight in the Highlands. We shall fight in the valley. We shall fight in the Northern Forest. We shall fight in the city of Warfang. Should our enemies face us as snakes, let's fly over them as falcons. Should our enemies face us as flood, let's be as beavers and build a dam to stop them in their path. Should our enemies come charging, let's show them the strength of our shields and the edge of our blades. Should our enemies come as barbarians, let's face them with the might of Rome. If they come scattered, let's stampede with our horses. If they come clustered, let's scatter them. Let me tell you, soldiers, one day, the fight for freedom shall end, and one day, we shall march hand-in-hand as brothers and sisters and watch the sunrise. On that day, a victory song will resonate a time of joy and peace for Avalar."

The soldiers let out a cheer that shook the sky. They chanted my name with great enthusiasm. I put up my hands in an attempt to calm the crowd

"Alright. Alright, settle down! Settle down. Hulda, I want you to find your tribe and convince their fighters to join us. Cynder, I want you and Roman to go back to the village and gather our forces. Tell the Guardians to send out the call to any dragons in hiding. Also, bring the blacksmith with you. Spyro, you and Sparx move ahead and find us a place to set up a temporary camp. We need a flat location close to a river with enough trees to get lumber for the siege weapon. I already have someone working on getting engineers to build it. I have asked the wolves to spare any hunters they can. You all know your assigned tasks, now get to 'em! The rest of you, march!"

"Yes, sir!"

After the speech, I mounted Sora and I was about to leave when Icanna came rushing out.

"Wait, Brandon! Don't leave just yet!" She shouted.

"Icanna. Come to say goodbye?"

"Yes, but you forgot your armor and weapons." She said before handing them over.

"Oh, thanks. Would've sucked if I had to get a whole new set."

She laughed. "Right." She grabbed my hand. "Am I going to see you again?"

I pondered on this. If things were to play out as they did in-game, then the war would drag on for three more years. But if not, and we won here, then at most, it would be at most a few months or a year of putting down some small resistance groups. So I gave a vague answer.

"Depends on how things go."

She frowned. "Oh, well I'm just going to do this.. Just to be safe."

I cocked my head to the side. "Do wha-"

In one swift motion, Icanna pulled me down and kissed me on the cheek. I watched stunned and red-cheeked as she then turned toward her house and walked away as if she didn't just do what she just did. Before she closed the door, she turned back to me.

"Go get 'em, Captain!" She cheered.

I stared off into the distance before snapping back to reality from Sparx tapping me on the shoulder.

"Hey, big guy. Yoohooooo... You there? Yo, dude. That your girl? Lucky guy."

I laughed. "Maybe, we'll see once this war is over."

Unlike the situation with Cynder, I was more conflicted about a romantic relationship with Icanna rather than knowing for a fact I didn't want one. For one, there was the issue of returning home. There was the issue of species difference, but unlike Cynder, Icanna was a mammal like me, so it wasn't as big of an issue as it was with Cynder, but still a pretty big one. There was also little to no age difference, so I didn't have to worry about the FBI breaking down my door. And as for the war, victory was assured at this point even if things played out normally. So perhaps things could work out between me and Icanna.

"Soldiers, march!"

We marched for three days while singing call and response songs in different languages to keep ourselves entertained. This was when I had learned that the universal language for most Avalarians was actually Latin. Once I learned this, I had my fun by getting them to sing that one Roman marching song from Ben Hur. Along with some of the made-up songs by reenactment groups. We even figured out the best way to sing Urbani, the only known marching song of the Romans, some time on the third day. Anyway, enough of me living out my Ancient Roman fantasy, we'll come back to that later. When we reached a good spot, we built our camp, built a fire, and ate a much-needed meal. We sat around the fire for a while before one of my soldiers asked me this question.

"So, Captain, what exactly were all those songs from?"

"Rome."

"We keep hearing you talk about 'Rome this, Rome that,' tell us about Rome, then."

I sighed. I didn't hate explaining Roman history but now wasn't really the time. But I knew my soldiers, they were persistent.

"You want the short version or the long version?"

"Long." Everyone replied in unison.

"Great," I muttered sarcastically. "by the time I finish, half the realms will be destroyed."

"Alright, so there were these guys, brothers, called Romulus and Remus. Allegedly they were raised by a wolf…"

Twelve Minutes Later

"And then Romulus killed his brother, and so the city was called Rome, thank goodness because Reme just sounds awful…"

Even Later

"And then the people revolted against the Etruscans, Rome became a republic and they started expanding…"

Even Later…

"Then the Punic Wars happened. Carthago delenda est, Rome came out on top, and now they've established themselves as the known world's superpower…"

Eventually

"And then came along Gaius Marius, this guy was a real game-changer. Military reforms left, right, and center…"

Much Later

"And now, Caesar comes along, the people love him. He does a lot for the republic, even marching on Gaul. Yes, there was a place in my world called Gaul, it's now France, but that's neither here nor there. Anyway, eventually, there are some tensions in the senate, they boil over into a civil war…"

Uhh…

"And then Caesar declared himself dictator for life, the senate didn't like that so…"

…

"Then Augustus became emperor, what followed was the golden age of Rome: Pax Romana…"

So much later that the old narrator got tired of waiting and they had to hire a new one.

"And then Rome split in two. East thrives, west begins to decline, eventually, the west falls. But then this one emperor, Justinian, reconquers a lot of Hispania, all of Italia, and some more of the lost territory, but he has to fall back because a plague ravaged the east. From here, Rome pretty much stops being Rome."

I looked around at all the faces. So tired, yet they remained eager to listen to the very end. One of them whistled.

"So basically, a small city-state rose to power, left its mark on the world which can still be seen in your world today, stayed around for a while, split in two, then fell from grace?"

"Yeah, well, unless you consider the Byzantines, but I'll tell you about them another time because you guys probably can't comprehend a thing I'm saying."

"Wait, we speak the language you call Latin as a universal language. Does that make us-"

"Roman? Ha! No-" I stopped myself mid-sentence. They were not Romans per se, but they had the discipline of the army, the language of the people, and now the knowledge of the Romans' history. Besides, there was the Holy Roman Empire, so if the French, Germans, and Italians can form an empire and call it Roman, so could the Avalarians.

"Actually…now that's a decent question. But one we must discuss after the war is over. For now, we must rest. All of us."

Meanwhile

The eagle flies swiftly through the night sky. Just one last delivery, then go home. Just as Master ordered. The eagle flies over the gates of the city before releasing the last pamphlet. It floats down slowly right onto the muzzle of a sleeping mole. The engineer sneezes and nearly blows the paper out of sight, but he grabs it before it is lost in the dark streets. One quick glance at the paper and he can tell it is a message. The bottom left corner is painted red, there is a symbol of an eagle painted in gold. The abbreviation CTUA is written under the eagle and surrounded by a gold wreath with the letters themselves also written in gold. Under the wreath is a symbol of a wolf's head. These words are written on the message.

"To whom it may concern,

This is a message from the Cheetah Tribal Union of Avalar. For those who are unaware of our existence, we are an alliance created by two once warring tribes that have since settled their differences and united for a common cause: the defense of not just Avalar, but all other realms against the Dark Master, Malefor. Since the creation of the union, one other tribe of cheetahs has signed the pact. With this, we are approximately ten thousand strong, but we can only do so much. We need ships, supplies, weapons, manpower, and engineers. This is where you, the people of the Dragon Realms, come in. Seek us out. Name your price or fight with us out of the kindness of your heart. Fight for your families. Fight for your friends. Fight for yourself. Fight for your home."

Attached to this was a personalized message from one Captain Brandon.

"To the moles,

We have it on good authority that you are some of the best engineers in all of the realms. We need good engineers if we want to win this war. Bridges, siege weapons, walls. We need all of those things if we want to win. I ask that you join us. We are willing to pay in gold, land, food, cattle, whatever you want. Just name your price. On the back of this letter is a map with a circled area. Our camp is somewhere within that circle. You have a day to decide if you want to join us. We hope to see you there.

Sincerely, Captain Brandon"

The mole shrugs. It's not his place to decide whether or not to join, so he's rather apathetic at the moment, but he'll see what his superiors have to say about this. If they join, that's when it becomes his problem.

The eagle watches from the shadows as the mole calls his boss over. He can't make out what they are saying, but actions speak louder than words and he sees the boss nod. Mission successful. The moles have been recruited. The eagle takes to the skies, silent as the wind.