Just finished writing the beginning of the climax of Demonised (it's Chapter 52, so it starts long after it did in Broken Perceptions if you want to compare; the chapters in Demonised are also much longer as well). The climax of Demonised is also probably the darkest thing I will ever write (apart from Purple Legacy Part 3; that one's pretty dark). But I'm really happy to finally begin writing the climax; I'm almost done Demonised and I'm ready to start Part 2 of Purple Legacy!
But as always, another chapter finished means another chapter to post, so here's Chapter 8. I like this one, and I think you'll know why once you finish it. So enjoy!
"Are you okay?" Pyron asked.
Cynder awoke in the Warfang Temple, groggy and disoriented. She looked around and saw Pyron's hazy figure in front of her. When her vision improved, she groaned and attempted to lift her head, but winced in pain as her neck and shoulders began to throb painfully. She put a paw to where the pain came from and felt a long, savage cut across the bottom of her neck. It had closed slightly, but was still open and she could feel raw flesh where the cut was. She then looked at her forearms and saw some less serious cuts there, but they still hurt, her nerves only now registering the pain. She looked at Pyron, confusion in her eyes. "What happened?" she asked, not remembering what had happened the day before.
"You attempted to take your life," Pyron deadpanned. "That was yesterday."
"What? Why?" Cynder questioned, her breath going hard with shock.
"You mean you don't remember?" Pyron asked.
"No. What happened?"
"Electrika… said some really mean things to you. Apparently, she's not your friend anymore. She never was, really. I can't believe that selfish idiot for doing what she did."
Cynder looked away and shed a tear. "Oh. Now I remember," Cynder said, the terrible memories filling her head. "I didn't look stupid bawling my eyes out like that, did I?"
"Don't say that. You were in shock," Pyron replied quickly.
Cynder opened her mouth in an attempt to reply, but was cut off by the sound of muffled screaming from outside the Warfang Temple. Cynder and Pyron watched as Terrador walked past them down the corridor, walking out of the Temple. Cynder attempted to stand up to follow Terrador, but Pyron stopped her. "You're exhausted. You need to stay here," Pyron said.
"No. I'm going to see what's going on," Cynder growled, standing up with wobbly forelegs.
Pyron groaned, knowing he was never going to get Cynder to lie back down, so he went with her as Cynder limped towards the doors. When they walked out, they gasped at what they saw. Even Terrador was frozen in shock.
A massive mountain, far away from Warfang but still visible from outside the walls, had wispy dark purple clouds billowing from around it. The purple clouds rose into the sky and bled into it like ink, choking the bright blue colour out of the sky, leaving it the same dark purple as the clouds, almost black at certain parts. Bright flashes of lightning appeared in the dark wispy clouds on the occasion.
Cynder didn't need any explanation for what that was, and where it came from. The dark clouds were dark energy; she had seen it before. She had felt it before. Malefor had seen to that. But now, there was only one creature that she knew existed that could control dark energy. "Spyro. Spyro's doing that," Cynder said.
Terrador looked behind him and stared at Cynder in shock. Cynder's gaze flicked to Terrador, worry in her eyes. Cynder jumped as Cyril's voice sounded behind her. "How do you know?" Cyril asked.
"What other darkness is in the world right now? Malefor's dead, his armies annihilated. The War of Eternal Darkness begun two days ago when Spyro turned on us. He's probably creating some sort of base or army or something," she explained, losing her temper and turning around to look at Cyril. "I don't really know what he's doing, but I know it's Spyro."
Cyril stepped back, filled with shock. "Why is he doing this? I don't want to fight him," he muttered.
"I don't know. He's turned on us. He's become the next Dark Master. If we have to fight him, then we will. I will, even if you won't!" Cynder shouted, feeling fresh tears trickle down her face. "I will not stand to see darkness take over this world once more, even if I die trying!"
"We have to prepare," Terrador said. "It can't be too long until he gets his armies up and running."
"Especially since signs of his dark powers are starting to show just two days after he betrayed us," Pyron added.
Cynder let out a sniffle. Her gaze was set upon the dark energy seeping into the sky, tears in her eyes. Terrador sighed and walked towards her. "I know it's hard, with Spyro gone and all that…" he started, but was immediately cut off as Cynder rounded on him.
"Hard?! You think it's hard?! It's more than hard, you inconsiderate worm! I loved Spyro, and he goes and does this?! He turned his back on me, betrayed me, stole our son, and has become the next Malefor!" Cynder screamed, spittle flying from her lips as she advanced dangerously toward Terrador. "Wait until this ever happens to you, and see if you can say it's hard! Only then will you understand what I'm going through!"
As she screamed her last sentence, Cynder raised a claw, causing Terrador to flinch and Cyril to stiffen, ready to stop a fight if one broke out. Cynder quickly recomposed herself, slowly letting her paw drop down to the ground as she averted her glance from Terrador. She could hear Terrador's hard breath. He drew in a shuddering breath and spoke again, his voice quivering. "I know. I'm sorry. I don't know what you're going through, but I do know what it feels like to lose loved ones to war. Family," Terrador said.
Cynder looked up at Terrador, sadness and rage in her eyes. "Well I'm sorry. If you didn't already know, I wasn't myself." she scowled, turning to walk away, before adding, "I'm not sure if you were trying to apologise or make me feel sorry for you, but it didn't work."
She heard Terrador curse himself, and the quiet voice of Pyron. "I'll go with her," he said, and Pyron caught up to Cynder.
"Thanks, Pyron, but I just want to be alone right now," Cynder said sadly.
"I won't leave you alone," Pyron said firmly.
"I'm not going to do anything stupid! I was blinded by my grief and fear yesterday!" Cynder growled, turning on him, moving her neck in a way that stretched the wound she had made painfully, opening it slightly as small beads of blood began to seep out of it slowly. "I'm not that dumb that I'll do it with a conscious mind!"
And Cynder left, leaving Pyron alone in the crowd that watched Cynder and the guardians fight.
"I'm an idiot. I can't believe I said those things." Terrador growled, sitting down in his room.
Cyril stood outside the door with a compassionate look on his face. "You didn't mean them. I'm sure Cynder understands that." Cyril said, trying to comfort the earth guardian.
"I tried to compare my suffering to Cynder's. My suffering is nothing compared to hers! NOTHING!" Terrador replied, slamming his paw on the ground with rage and causing a few books to fall from the bookshelves in his room. But he couldn't care less. "I just reminded her of more victims of her wrath as the Terror of the Skies. She didn't need to be reminded of that with Spyro just going evil! She probably didn't even know she'd killed my family, but I blindly told it to her while she was mourning her life that would have been!"
"Terrador, calm down," Volteer said, coming around the corner.
"No, I won't! She's lost all chance of having a family she ever had, and then I go and say, 'It's alright, my family's gone too, and it's all your fault!'" Terrador screamed, his deep voice echoing through the room.
"You're not the only one who's verbalised matters like that," Volteer replied.
"Don't play that game with me after what just happened," Terrador scowled.
"I'm not playing 'that game,' Terrador! I really mean it!" Volteer roared, silencing Terrador at his sudden outburst. "Because I've done it to you! And Cyril! And Ignitus, too! I used to be a foolish, thoughtless and inconsiderate guardian, and no matter what, you all still looked out for me and cared for me, while I was kicking myself up over the things I've instinctively said because of my big fat mouth!"
As he said that, Volteer immediately turned to Cyril, expecting some remark about agreeing on the fact that he had a big fat mouth. Instead, Cyril's gaze flickered from Volteer to the floor and back again, before fixing on his paws. His lips were pursed in a thin line, and he swallowed nervously. Cyril heard Volteer's hard breath and sighed before speaking.
"I'm the same," Cyril said, his voice croaky with remorse. "I always found Volteer could get annoying sometimes, and the only way I ever knew react to that was to pick on people who did annoy me and start a fight. My father never liked me, so he would always put me down, so I guess I learned it from him. I never even tried to take any consideration of other people's feelings. Especially you, Volteer."
Cyril looked up at Volteer, and their eyes locked, Volteer's angry gaze hard and difficult to look into, but Cyril stayed strong and continued to stare into Volteer's angry yellow eyes. "I apologise for everything I've said, Volteer. I was stupid and also inconsiderate. I hope we can make up for everything we've said to each other and start again," Cyril continued.
Volteer and Cyril stared for a few more moments before Volteer's firm glare softened and he spoke in reply. "Thanks. I apologise, too. I may have also said some harmful things to you," he said, before sighing sadly and turning his gaze upwards, staring off into nowhere. "I remember how hard Ignitus would try to stop our endless squabbling. I wish we could have resolved our problems while he was still here."
Terrador stood up and walked towards his fellow guardians. "It seems out of all of us, Ignitus was the only responsible one," he said, his voice low and tears pricking his eyes at the memory of Spyro and Cynder breaking the news to them that Ignitus was dead. "But he's with the ancestors now, and I believe he's watching down on us with a smile on his face, watching us resolve our problems without any help. I just wish we realised our issues sooner and not on the verge of another war."
"I agree. I'm glad to be with you two, brothers," Cyril said, smiling.
Terrador and Volteer nodded, smiling. "Brothers," they repeated, and they bowed their heads to each other in respect, and touched foreheads, something they had not done since the day they became guardians.
To 'Derick Lindsey', yeah you were right on the mark. You wouldn't believe how much I was smirking when you basically predicted the outline of those next two chapters. As for your comment about me torturing Cynder, this story's quite a dark one, and lots of characters are going to lose things in this story, and even more so, in the entire Purple Legacy series. Also, while Cynder may (or may not) get better in her mental state, her circumstances definitely will not get better. This story's barely started, and the War of Eternal Darkness is pretty terrible. Like I said in the starting A/N, I've just started writing the climax, and it's pretty dark, so things are going to escalate into a whole level of madness and bloodshed later down the track.
To a guest, this is Electrika we're talking about. Cynder took her family away from her and made her an orphan, and because of that, Electrika had no friends and a pretty terrible childhood. So to pass up the chance of giving back the hell Cynder gave her, just wasn't something Electrika could do. Sad, I know, and although I've made it seem like Electrika's the villain here, if you look at where she's coming from, you kind of feel bad for Electrika too. And what gives you the feeling that Electrika's not going to survive? I'm interested to know.
Anyway, glad everybody's enjoying Demonised so far. I'll be back soon (whenever that soon may be) with Chapter 9!