Well, I'm back with another chapter. Not much to say, since most of it usually goes at the bottom with reviews. Probably not even going to do pre-chapter A/Ns anymore. So say goodbye to the bold at the top, this one's probably gonna be the last one!
Cynder was not ready for the next morning. She didn't even want to leave the Warfang Temple, where the guardians had allowed her to stay for the night so she could recover from the shock and so that she could call out if she needed the guardians. But Terrador said it'd be best to have some company from her friends, so Cynder immediately went to seek out her friends, specifically Pyron and Freeze. They understood her more than Rubblerust and Electrika did, and Cynder felt she needed some very close friends who understood her to be around at the moment.
She walked through the streets of Warfang to the training arena, where Pyron and Freeze said yesterday that they were going to train today, mainly because it had been ages since they had done so and the guardians had made them do some more training, as well as some other adolescent dragons. A few dragons asked her why she looked so upset and battered on the way to the training arena, but she refused to reply. If she did, it was a short, snappy retort of 'I don't want to talk about it' or a low growl.
Cynder got to the training arena to find Freeze and Electrika having a spar, with Pyron watching on, a few bruises on his shoulders and arms. Supposedly, he had already been sparring and gotten a heavy beating. Cynder sat down next to Pyron, and it took a moment for the red drake to realise that Cynder was sitting next to him. He looked at her with a smile, ready to say a cheery hello, but faltered as he saw Cynder's expression. Tears streaked down her muzzle, and she stared at her paws, lips pursed in a thin line as if suppressing an anguished scream. Her breath was heavy and shaky, and her chest heaved as she breathed.
The red dragon sighed before he moved closer to Cynder and wrapped a wing around her in an act of comfort. Cynder was quick to shake the wing off with an irritated grunt. Pyron moved his head downwards and tried to look into Cynder's eyes to read what was in there. Cynder closed her eyes and turned away with another grunt, followed by a sniffle. Pyron spoke, "Cynder, what's wrong? You know you can speak to us if you need help – that's what friends are for."
"I, uh… I don't want to talk about it right now. I'll tell you, I promise. But just… not now. I just wanted to come here and spend time with my friends," Cynder said, not once looking at Pyron, her quivering voice showing all the emotion she was struggling so hard to hide. "Well, the guardians told me to. I didn't want to leave the Warfang Temple."
Immediately, Pyron was worried. He stammered, and Freeze and Electrika heard him stammer, and stopped their spar and walked over to him, also only just noticing Cynder's presence. Pyron composed himself and began to speak again. "You didn't want to leave the Warfang Temple? What were you doing there?" Pyron asked, concern filling his voice. "Shouldn't you be at home? With Spyro and Forzen?"
At those words, Cynder broke down into a blubbering mess. Pyron, Freeze and Electrika shared worried looks, before standing up and helping Cynder to her paws. "Let's go outside. You can cry all you want there. I don't think it's fair if we disturb everyone else's training," Pyron suggested soothingly.
Cynder just nodded as she followed her three friends outside of the training arena. They sat a few metres outside the training arena into the large courtyard and tried to calm Cynder down, but with no prevail. It wasn't long before a small crowd started to gather at the peculiar sight, and Pyron seethed with anger at this. "CAN'T YOU MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS?!" he roared, standing up and expanding his wings threateningly, causing the crowd to hastily disperse and return to normal life.
Pyron sat back down and quietly shushed Cynder, putting his paw on her shoulder. Cynder flinched, but didn't shake the paw off this time. She was too busy releasing her emotions in a massive torrent of tears and screams as she sobbed loudly. Pyron, Freeze and Electrika gave Cynder a bit of time to calm down, even though she really didn't, and over the minute or two they waited, the three dragons agreed that Pyron would do all the talking, especially given Freeze's past experiences with her foster brother. Pyron was good at helping others, calming them down, distracting them from their grief. He had made Freeze feel like she had a family after her parents' disappearance, and she had gotten over the terrible moments of despair thanks to Pyron.
"So Cynder, can you tell me what's happened? Does it have something to do with Spyro or Forzen?" he asked, knowing that when he mentioned their names earlier that that had caused Cynder's emotional breakdown.
Upon their names being mentioned again, Cynder broke into a loud howl, tears flooding down her cheeks as her emotional walls collapsed. She had tried so hard to make herself look strong over the years, but now she had broken like a twig, and the emotions that had welled up inside her flooded out, and it hurt. But, sooner than her friends expected, Cynder spoke, her words slurred by her heavy, suffocating sobs. "They're gone. They're both gone. It's begun. It's begun," she muttered, taking in heavy intakes of breath in between each sentence before letting the next out in amongst a loud, ugly sob.
"What's begun?" Pyron questioned, his voice soft and soothing.
"The War of Eternal Darkness!" Cynder cried before letting out another loud howl.
Pyron and Freeze exchanged scared looks. They, as well as Cynder, Rubblerust and the guardians, were the only ones who knew of this. Electrika had been left completely out of the blue. Electrika was known to be quick to speak, so they were worried she was going to speak up. Luckily, she kept her mouth shut, although the expression on her face as she looked to Pyron and Freeze asked the question that went unsaid. Pyron turned back to Cynder and asked, "How do you know?"
"A nightmare. I had a nightmare," Cynder sobbed. "The dark creature told me that it had begun. And he revealed his identity."
"Who?" Pyron asked.
At this, Cynder threw her head back and broke into her loudest howl yet, this time, unintentionally filled with blasts of her fear element. Pyron, Freeze and Electrika all ducked out of the way of the visible red sound waves that shot into the sky as to not fall into a frightened mess. Pyron gripped Cynder tightly when she stopped the loud howl and shook her firmly. "Who was it?" Pyron repeated, a little more firmly than the first time he asked.
"IT WAS SPYRO!" Cynder shrieked before collapsing.
Pyron caught her and helped her gain balance so she could sit upright. He shared a scared look with Freeze, their breathing getting more rapid, as did Electrika's. "Are you sure?" Pyron asked.
"Yes. He made this speech and attacked me… all dark and evil… not like Dark Spyro… and then he left… and stole Forzen!" Cynder cried, breaking into another fit of sobs.
Not even Cynder's friend group knew about Dark Spyro; it was only a thing that herself, Sparx, and Spyro knew about, and they had always intended to keep it that way. But now was not that case. Spyro had turned, and now everyone will know of his evil side.
Pyron opened his mouth to say something to Cynder, but Electrika beat him to it. And it was not a good thing that came out of Electrika's maw. "I told you it was him! But you didn't listen!" Electrika sneered.
"Shut up," Pyron said calmly, his breathing getting heavier as he tried to take deep breaths to calm the rage that was slowly and dangerously building up inside of him.
"I said don't come crying to us if Spyro did turn on you," Electrika continued, ignoring Pyron completely. "And what do you do? You come to us and bawl your eyes out like a newborn hatchling."
Cynder's breathing sped up rapidly, feeling helplessness grip her like a vice, and Pyron's gaze went from Cynder to Electrika in a savage glower. A growl rose in Pyron's throat. "Shut up, Electrika," he said, his face twisting in an angry snarl.
But Electrika ignored Pyron and kept going. He didn't know what was wrong with her! "You're weak. You told me you were strong. You told me you helped defeat Malefor," she snarled at Cynder. "But you're a weak, emotional brat who creates lies to make you look good. You were probably a burden to Spyro when he was saving the world. Nothing more than a slave."
This time, it was Freeze who spoke up. "Electrika, what the heck is wrong with you?!" she cried.
Electrika's voice was hollow now, tears forming in her eyes. "And you deserve it, Cynder! You had millions of slaves, and for what?! For most of them all to die?!" she screamed.
"Electrika, I suggest you be quiet right now or I will beat the hell out of you!" Pyron scowled, standing up, his voice quivering.
The yellow dragoness still wasn't done, however. "You say you're strong?! You were only ever strong when you had no emotions or feelings when you were the Terror of the Skies!" she howled, taking a deep breath before continuing hoarsely. "You say Spyro's gone evil?! THEN WHY DON'T YOU JOIN THE EVIL B…?!"
Electrika's curse was cut off by a loud roar as Pyron lunged at her, pinning her to the ground. Electrika let out a scream as Pyron's claws raked her flanks. Freeze leapt back with a yelp at Pyron's sudden anger, far beyond any anger she had ever seen in him. "You went too far!" Pyron roared savagely, continuing to claw Electrika.
Electrika suddenly kicked out at Pyron, knocking him over. She swiped at his muzzle, but Pyron dodged and flew up into the air, breathing a long stream of fire at Electrika, who let out a shout as the flames licked up at her, and she felt her scales begin to sizzle. From the pillars of smoke and fire around Electrika, she let out a beam of electricity, striking Pyron square in the chest. Pyron ceased his fire breath attack, and his body shook vigorously in the air as he fell, electricity coursing angrily through his body. Electrika stepped forward to pin him down, but Pyron managed to fight against the electricity coursing through his body. Quickly, he composed himself and leapt once again at Electrika. She dodged the attack this time, and they attacked with claws and aimed bites and tail swipes at each other, only catching a blow on the odd occasion as they fought, sending beads of blood splattering everywhere as they fought. Electrika weakened quickly, the long, bloody cuts running down her flanks slowing her down, her flanks heaving painfully with her every breath. Pyron and Electrika leapt at each other, forepaws raised. Their forepaws locked, and they stood there, suspended on their hind legs, clutching each other's forepaws, attempting to dig their claws into their opponent's wrists, pushing with all their might to make the other fall backwards. Electrika held on really well, given how much older and stronger Pyron was.
"STOP THIS INSOLENT BEHAVIOUR RIGHT NOW!" a loud roar bellowed as Terrador stormed up towards Pyron and Electrika, who quickly retreated and stood next to each other, looking up at Terrador.
"Electrika started it," Pyron growled, breath heavy from the heat of the battle, muscles aching to launch at Electrika, claws ready to sink into Electrika's flesh.
"I don't care who started it! What the hell were you two thinking?!" Terrador ordered.
"I couldn't take what Electrika was saying any longer. She was saying absolute cruel stuff to Cynder, and…" Pyron broke off, Cynder's presence completely forgotten during the fight.
He looked in Cynder's direction and gasped. She was slumped on the ground, with Freeze crouching next to her. Pyron ran towards the two dragonesses and his heart fell at what he saw. A bloody cut ran across where her neck joined to her shoulders, and bloody scratches on her forearms. Her own blood stained her tailblade and claws. Pyron looked at Freeze, fear and sadness filling his eyes. "She missed. In her emotional breakdown, she was so blinded by the tears and emotions that she attempted to… to… slit her own throat; she completely lost herself. Luckily, her body was shaking so much that when she drew her tailblade across her flesh, it was much further down than it should have been if she wanted to kill herself," Freeze explained. "She's still alive, but the shock and the pain made her fall unconscious."
"What have I done?" Pyron whispered, believing that the fight he started put Cynder under the stress to commit the actions she did. "I did this. I started a fight that made her do this."
Electrika didn't say anything. Pyron turned around to her to see a sly smile on her face. Pyron seethed with anger, holding himself back and curling his claws into the cobblestones underneath him to stop him from lunging at her and slicing the petty smile off her face. "How the hell are you smiling at this?! You were her friend!" Pyron shouted.
"No, you damn idiot. I was your friend. I hated her. I always had. She killed my parents." Electrika scowled, the smile removing itself immediately as she spoke. "She is the reason I became an orphan, that I witnessed horrors I never needed to, that everybody I wanted to be friends with laughed at me because I was the only one who didn't have a biological family! Because I was adopted! I was never her friend! I was playing along with it because I knew that you were friends with her! I didn't want to lose you guys!"
"You… you selfish, deceitful, horrendous, sorry excuse for a friend! You little…" Pyron scowled, tears welling up in his eyes. "How could you do something like this?!"
"Because she needs to know what true torment feels like. I've just given it to her," Electrika said, the smirk creeping up onto her face again.
"She already knows what torment is!" Terrador scowled. "She's been tormented for her whole life at painful memories of the past, and then with the nightmares about this War of Eternal Darkness to add on top of that! She's been through enough! Hell, she used to torment others! She already knows what the hell torment is!"
"You could have at least tried to see who she really was. She's a kind dragoness. She cares about everyone here! She cared for you!" Freeze added, her voice rising into a despairing scream. "Now look what she's done to herself!"
"I don't care. If you care that much for that monster, then say goodbye to me. I want nothing to do with anyone that has a friendship with that murderer," Electrika said, turning around and stalking off.
"Fine then! Leave without any friends! Be alone again for all I care!" Pyron screamed, collapsing under the emotional stress as all Electrika's truths were revealed, and he wept.
"Get Cynder back to the Warfang Temple," Terrador said to Pyron and Freeze. "She needs a little isolation right now."
Pyron stood up slowly, tears streaming down his face, and helped Freeze lift Cynder's unconscious body. As they walked towards the Warfang Temple, they heard Terrador dismissing the crowd that had appeared at the sight of Pyron and Electrika's fight, and Cynder's failed attempt at suicide. Terrador then turned and followed Pyron and Freeze, muttering under his breath. Pyron couldn't hear much of it, but there was one thing he heard that showed that Terrador was beating himself up inside.
"We shouldn't have forced her to leave the Temple."
I still quite like this sequence. Again, not my favourite, and I've made better, but it's still pretty good. I'm glad all of you are enjoying Demonised so far, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter, too. Yeah, Electrika was also never on Cynder's side. So to have a friend ripped away from her like that, to find out that Electrika was faking it all, on top of Spyro's betrayal and Forzen's kidnapping, yeah, you can kind of tell how depressed Cynder is right now.
To 'lord typhlosion', I had the idea for this while writing the Dark Spyro section in Broken Perceptions, so that's why the start of Demonised seems somewhat similar with Dark Spyro taking control and making Spyro the main villain. But in all seriousness, Demonised doesn't end there. It's going to get a whole lot worse; much worse than Broken Perceptions, in which the M-rating speaks for itself there. Also, thanks for your support, on both my Spyro fanfictions and my FNAF one (I really need to get another chapter up on Bitten gah).
To 'Derick Lindsey', yeah it was quite early. I originally wanted to make it a bit later when I first wrote this back in May/June 2017, but I realised it was beginning to drag on for too long, so I moved Spyro's betrayal earlier on. But yeah, Spyro is going to be much worse than in Broken Perceptions as I said before (the M-rating speaks for itself, as well as some of the gory content you've seen in Cynder's future visions). As for your question about Spyro being the main antagonist for all five parts, I'm not going to say, because if he is or isn't it'll give away parts of the story, so the most I'm going to give you is 'wait and see'.
To 'IllusionMaster17', this whole story is meant to be kind of shocking. Again, the story's rated M, so no surprises there at how shocking this story may get. But yeah, the fact that it was Spyro who turned makes it worse for everyone. The hero and saviour of the world, taken and fallen into darkness. Almost makes him seem like a hypocrite here. But that's kind of the point. Still, glad you're sticking around, and thanks for the support.
Until next time, folks! (woah I never say 'folks'… that's a first)