WARNING: This chapter contains some detailed gore and graphic violence.
Before anyone could make any sign of acknowledging Volteer, there was a loud screech as eight of Spyro's dark dragons ran into the Warfang Temple, snarling menacingly. Five of them were poison dragons, and three of them were shadowclaws. "Oh, great. Now we've got shadowclaws to add into the chaos as well!" Cynder groaned as a shadowclaw launched itself at her.
Cynder reared up onto her hind legs, clawing at the shadowclaw that had leapt at her, slamming it into the ground. The shadowclaw growled in pain, scrambling frantically to get back onto its paws, but Cynder put her forepaws on top of it, pinning it to the ground as it snarled and squirmed savagely underneath her paws. The shadowclaw then turned its head and breathed black fire at Cynder, and she staggered backwards, releasing the shadowclaw as the heat from the attack burned through her scales. A large glob of poison then hit her in the back of the head, and she turned to see a slightly wounded poison dragon lunge at Cynder. She swung her tailblade around, bringing it cleanly through the poison dragon's neck as its momentum did most of the slicing work for her. The dragon's head landed on the floor with a huge splatter of green blood, rolling around and stopping in front of the shadowclaw, who glanced anxiously at the severed head before looking at Cynder, a menacing growl emanating from its throat. The shadowclaw leapt at Cynder, but Cynder was quicker as she raised her tailblade and plunged it into the shadowclaw's chest. She penetrated the thick ribs and felt the crystal shatter at the end of her tailblade, before she withdrew it, blackened with blood. The shadowclaw fell to the ground with a cold stare, unmoving.
She turned and gasped as she heard Terrador howl in pain behind her. A shadowclaw had plunged its tailblade deep into the earth guardian's left flank, and when the shadowclaw pulled it out of Terrador's flank, terrible amounts of blood came gushing out of the wound as Terrador fell to the ground, groaning and squirming on the ground in agony. Cynder lunged at the shadowclaw, tackling it to the ground before cutting savagely at the shadowclaw's neck with her tailblade, eventually separating its head from its shoulders. Cynder turned to check if Terrador was alright, but before she could say anything, the earth guardian spoke to her. "I'll be fine. Go help the others. Get rid of these pests before you worry about finding red gems for me." Terrador croaked stubbornly, and Cynder hesitated. "Go! I'll be fine!"
Cynder took a hesitant step back from Terrador, before looking behind her and seeing Vetar and Oren fighting two poison dragons, Vetar ducking as he narrowly missed a glob of poison that shot from the gaping maw of one of the poison dragons. "A little help?!" Oren cried out, as the tailblade of the other poison dragon sliced across his right forepaw, leaving a large, yet shallow cut, that still bled quite a lot.
Cynder immediately turned to Vetar and Oren, leaping at the poison dragon that had cut Oren's forepaw, raising both her forepaws in the air as she made a high leap. The poison dragon made the mistake of looking up at Cynder, and so when Cynder brought her claws down, she had eventually sliced out both of the poison dragon's eyes, and the dragon staggered around, sightless, dark green blood streaming from the empty eye sockets, almost slipping over one of its disembodied eyes in the process. Once it righted its centre of gravity, the venomfang growled and kicked the eye at Cynder, green blood from the trailing optic nerve spraying everywhere. Cynder was forced to duck as the eye soared over her head, landing with a wet thud on the ground. With a roar, Oren came up from behind the poison dragon and did three long sweeps with his tailblade around the dragon's neck, and the dragon's head fell off its shoulders, causing the body to slump to the ground, green gore spilling from both ends of the split neck.
Cynder and Oren turned around and helped Vetar, who dodged another glob of poison, much more narrowly this time. Oren tackled the poison dragon to the ground, and Vetar put both his paws down on the dragon's head to stop it from fighting back, but the dragon threw Oren off from on top of it and bent its body around to raise its tailblade over Vetar's head. Vetar leapt out of the way as the tailblade came down, striking the air, before the poison dragon rolled over onto its back. The poison dragon stood up and opened its jaws as it let out a massive roar, revealing the appalling sight of its throat vibrating from the loud gurgling roar. Cynder ran towards the poison dragon to attack it, but it was quicker. It turned around and slashed Cynder across the face, leaving three bloody claw marks down her cheek as she staggered backwards, hissing air through her teeth.
Oren leapt at the poison dragon, his jaws open in a loud scream, but the poison dragon turned around and shot a glob of poison at Oren. The young fire dragon was soaring through the air with such momentum that he couldn't move out of the way, and he was in just the right spot for the glob of poison to soar into his mouth and down his throat. Oren felt the glob of poison splatter around the walls of his throat, and knew that there was no way the poison could be extracted. He could feel it against his flesh, sizzling hot, eating through the walls of his throat and entering his bloodstream. It even dribbled down his throat and into his stomach and began to eat away at the digestive organ. Oren howled in pain, and squeezed his eyes shut, feeling his flesh be corroded from the inside out.
Vetar snarled savagely at the sight of this, and swiftly swung his tailblade around in a wide arc, cutting halfway through the poison dragon's neck. He withdrew his tailblade to attack again, but before he could do so, Cynder brought her tailblade around and finished the job as the poison dragon fell to the ground, dead, in two remaining pieces.
Cynder and Vetar, ignoring the battle around them, ran towards Oren. Cynder wanted to save him from the poison, but knew that the poison was already too far into his system, and she wouldn't be able to get that deep into his throat to call back the poison. By the time she had already finished that thought, Oren had let out a strained gurgling cry of agony as pink, almost red foam began to form around his mouth. Oren gagged three times before coughing up dark red blood, and his body began to convulse savagely as poison flowed through his bloodstream. His hind left leg was now writhing in angry spasms, before it began to deteriorate, folding in and beginning to excrete blood and pus as the wound formed from inside the limb, spreading to the outside. Cynder wanted to stop it, but she knew that the fire dragon lying on the ground in front of her was too far gone. She couldn't stop the feeling of horrid guilt, and she felt tears prick her eyes as Oren let out another gurgled cry as his mouth went red with his own blood. He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing except a hoarse croak came out. Long strings of blood hung from his jaws like saliva, and the blood pooling around his bottom jaw began to drip down his chin. As Cynder looked closely, even his mouth was beginning to deteriorate, darkening with mouldy, rotten flesh that oozed with blood and pus, and black spots began to decorate his tongue. The holes in his tongue became bigger and bigger, before the tongue was now mostly holes, the muscle still in some sort of shape because of the strings of flesh that bound it together. The bottom of his tongue had now collapsed, spilling huge amounts of blood due to the large blood vessels that decorate the bottom of a dragon's tongue. He coughed savagely, spitting out the heap of blood that was forming in his mouth (which was replaced almost immediately by the same amount of blood), as well as a large tooth that had somehow become loose. Then, his left foreleg twitched, and he fell still.
"He's dead…" Cynder muttered, not wanting it to be true, horror-struck by what she had just witnessed. "I couldn't stop it. I… I couldn't… help him."
"This was the destiny the ancestors had for him." Terrador said from behind Cynder.
Cynder turned around and gave Terrador a look of terror. The battle had faded from around them, the three remaining dragons lying dead in their own blood. Cynder stammered, unable to find the words she words looking for. Vetar sensed her discomfort, and wrapped a wing around her. "He'll be safe and happy with the ancestors." Vetar said.
Cynder nodded, still speechless at the horror she had just witnessed. It had been years since she had last seen any creature die by poison, let alone a dragon. And she hated it. She had never seen a dragon be affected this much by poison either. Nor had she seen one be eaten from inside-out; normally she would spit poison on the exterior of a dragon's body, which would then enter the bloodstream and rot the internal organs. This had happened in the opposite way; Oren had been hit on the inside of his body, causing the poison to go into his bloodstream and then destroy his exterior the way the interior would normally be destroyed, all at the same time destroying the interior as well. It was horrifying. Due to the sickening amount of blood Oren had coughed up before his mouth had filled with blood from the bottom of his tongue, she guessed his lungs had been the first thing to corrode, filling up with blood and rendering him unable to breathe, closely followed by the nearby heart. As Cynder stepped back to join up with the other dragons, she couldn't take her eyes off Oren's limp, rotten, bloody body.
"So now what?" Kravel asked.
"We'll clean up in here later." Cyril said, shuddering as he looked away from Oren's corpse. "For now, we need to drive our attackers out of here."
There was a scream from outside. Cynder was the first to run towards the sound. She gasped as she saw a young ice dragoness, barely older than her, halfway across the courtyard, being attacked by two shadowclaws. Cynder leapt towards them, tailblade raised high in the air ready to take down the shadowclaws. She shouldered the ice dragoness out of the way as the shadowclaws caught sight of her, seeing Cynder as a larger target to focus on. The shadowclaws tackled her to the ground, and Cynder growled as she lashed out with her claws and tailblade. She felt the claws of the shadowclaws gripping her tightly, until one slipped. The claws left a large, bloody cut down her shoulder, but the paw wielding the claws had slid down in range of her maw, and she saw her chance. She turned and clamped her jaws down around the shadowclaw's ankle, and it screeched in pain. Cynder twisted her head around, causing the shadowclaw to topple over and fall off her, taking the other shadowclaw with it as it fell heavily into its side. Abruptly, as they fell, Cynder turned her head the other way, and with the momentum of both shadowclaws heading in one direction, and the sudden momentum of the shadowclaw's paw stuck in Cynder's mouth in the other direction, there was a snap and a spurting of black blood as Cynder ripped the shadowclaw's paw clean off its arm, and the shadowclaw let out a pained howl.
Cynder scrambled to her paws, spitting out the bloody limb that she carried in her mouth, and let out a savage growl. Before she knew it, Volteer and Tyrax had joined Cynder, leaping at the shadowclaws. One of them had made it to its paws, and it was tackled back to the ground again by Volteer, but the other, with only three paws, was unable to stabilise itself properly to stand up, so Tyrax kept the shadowclaw downed. Cynder leapt at the three-pawed shadowclaw and plunged her tailblade into the shadowclaw's chest, feeling the crystal embedded into its ribs shatter, and the shadowclaw fell silent. She withdrew her weapon and watched as Volteer killed the shadowclaw he had downed. Blitz had made it over to the ice dragoness and was taking her towards the Warfang Temple. "I'll stay with her, to make sure she's alright and recovers from the shock properly." Blitz said, wrapping his wing around the traumatised ice dragoness.
He was acknowledged by only a nod from Cynder. She was about to address Tyrax, Vetar, Kravel, Parlin, and the guardians neutrally, but she let out a loud howl of warning instead as she looked up and saw a massive poison missile fall from the sky. The dragons all leapt out of the way, one half leaping to the left side of the courtyard and the other leaping to the right. Cynder tried to run to the guardians and Vetar, but was cut off as three poison dragons leapt at her, seemingly appearing out of nowhere. She let out a scream, and leapt backwards, falling back with Tyrax, Kravel and Parlin. The poison dragons leapt at them with jaws outstretched, venom dripping from their fangs in a terrifying display. "RUN!" Cynder ordered to her companions as she spread her wings defensively, taking the onslaught of poison attacks.
Cynder absorbed the poison she took in, and turned to run after Tyrax, Kravel and Parlin. They ran down a skinny street, receiving frightened looks through slightly opened windows from buildings as the poison dragons followed them in hot pursuit. Cynder looked back and let out a loud shriek, using a siren scream on the three poison dragons. Two of them dodged the powerful sound waves, but the other fell to the ground, screeching and writhing in fear. Cynder fought her way through the poison dragons to kill the one that had been affected by her fear element. She called for help, but only Tyrax returned to help her. Kravel and Parlin were out of sight.
Tyrax leapt at one of the poison dragons, clamping his jaws shut tight around the neck of one of them. He twisted his head around, snapping the neck of the poison dragon, before realising he had done exactly this not too long ago with no success due to the biology of the creature, and he felt the same fear cripple him. He suddenly caught sight of Cynder, downing the poison dragon she was fighting and cutting into its head savagely, and Tyrax narrowed his eyes, abandoning the thought of what he had experienced last time he snapped a poison dragon's neck, and, with the dragon's neck still in his jaws, he threw the dragon to the ground. Before he could think about the fact that the poison dragon was still alive, Tyrax slammed his tailblade down on the poison dragon's neck savagely, before its head was separated from its body in a pool of dark green blood. He looked at Cynder, and saw that she had finished off the poison dragon she had knocked down with her siren scream. He looked at Cynder, and the two knew what each other was thinking, the words not needing to be said.
They should go and find Kravel and Parlin.
Cynder and Tyrax turned and ran down the streets, looking in every which way to find Kravel and Parlin, but they had no luck. Two shadowclaws leapt out at them from around a corner, and Cynder was tackled to the ground. Quickly, she kicked out with her hind legs, sending both shadowclaws into the air. Tyrax swung his tailblade around, only managing to slit the throat of one of the shadowclaws, but it stood up, snarling, as if nothing happened to it. Tyrax swallowed his fear and clawed at the shadowclaw, but it dodged and breathed black fire at him, sending him to the ground, writhing and shouting in pain. Cynder struggled to her paws, and was about to attack the shadowclaw, until a red body slammed into it, sending it falling to the ground.
"Pyron?!" Cynder exclaimed.
Pyron swung his tailblade around forcefully, finishing the job Tyrax started as his tailblade sliced through the shadowclaw's neck. The fire dragon smiled. "You look like you need help." Pyron said.
"Yes! Thank you! Come on!" Cynder shouted, scrambling to her paws and clamping her jaws around the downed shadowclaw, and it let out a loud screech of pain. She twisted her head sideways, and there was a terrible, resounding crack as she twisted the shadowclaw's head backwards around its neck, before pulling up, ripping the head forcefully off the neck just for safe measures.
With a shrill screech, the other shadowclaw leapt at her, but Pyron shoved his head forward, thrusting his sharp horns into the shadowclaw's chest, and vast amounts of inky black blood rained down on him as a shattering sound was heard, and the shadowclaw let out one final scream before it lay still, dead, skewered on Pyron's horns. Pyron threw the shadowclaw corpse to the ground and removed his horns from its chest, which were covered in inky black liquid as it flooded down his neck and forehead, dripping down over his face. "Quick, let's go and find Kravel and Parlin!" Cynder cried, and she led Tyrax and Pyron down the bloodstained street.
Cynder was discomforted by the many extra dragon corpses that scattered the streets, dark red blood spilling out from deep wounds, emptied eye sockets, and dragons that had rotted due to either the poison dragons or the poison missiles. They killed two shadowclaws and a poison dragon on the way down the streets in feeble attempts to save the dragons they were mutilating. Alas, every single one of them died of blood loss, rotting, or a severed head. One of the shadowclaws had even ripped out the heart of one of the suffering dragons and eaten it whole, sending red blood squirting all over its lips.
It wasn't long before they found Kravel and Parlin. They were unfortunate, however, to just catch Kravel breathe his dying breath, all four limbs torn from his body and his chest ripped apart so bone and a pierced, failing heart was visible. Parlin was covered in blood, and her left eye had been removed from the socket, as red blood streamed from it. Dark green blood pooled around her lips as a poison dragon corpse lay at her paws. "It took you long enough!" Parlin scowled, her voice rough and croaky.
"Sorry. We were caught up." Cynder said. "But we'd better find the others. There's been enough death here. We can't afford anyone else to die. Especially the guardians."
"Good idea." Parlin said, and Tyrax mumbled in agreement. Pyron was silent, but Cynder knew he agreed.
They turned and left, hoping they would be able to find Vetar and the guardians quickly, before anything bad happened to them. It took them about five minutes of endless searching and fighting, with no prevail, before a loud shout tore from somewhere nearby. Cynder recognised that shout. She had heard it a lot during her time as the Terror of the Skies. It was Cyril. He was in pain. Despite eleven years having passed, his screams were still the same. She remembered his cries of pain and protest when she captured him to extract his energy to create a portal to Convexity to free Malefor. Guilt swarmed her mind.
Shaking her head violently to remove the dire thoughts, Cynder growled and ran forward, beckoning Tyrax, Pyron and Parlin to follow her, before they came into an open courtyard, gasping with what she saw. Tears pricked her eyes, and she froze. The other three did the same.
Vetar lay in a bloody mess, still alive, luckily, in the corner of the courtyard, one of his horns missing and another split in half (luckily for him, they were both the horns on his jaws, so he still had the weapons on his head intact). Blood streamed from both his nostrils, his mouth, and his neck, although none of the wounds were fatal, as Cynder could tell from her gruesome past experiences regarding wounds and blood loss. The guardians, also very badly wounded, covered in their own blood, were in a fury of elements, fangs, tailblades and claws, fighting the dark creature that loomed over them. It was not a shadowclaw or poison dragon. It was none other than the Dark Overlord himself, Spyro the Purple Dragon.
Spyro was different now. No longer shrouded in a hideous purple, almost black mist. His scales were dark purple, much like Cynder's, probably darker, and were incredibly glossy. Gold and bronze markings that looked almost like tattoos danced wildly around all four of Spyro's paws, as well as around his neck and up around his head, before creating a shape similar to a mask around his two, savage, wild red eyes that burned with bloody passion. His smile was wide, and Cynder got a look at his glistening yellow fangs for the first time. Jagged, long and serrated, they would be a horror to go up against. His snout and mouth were slightly larger, as was his head, and more teeth were shoved in his wet, snarling mouth, crooked and obscenely massive. There were actually two rows of the jagged teeth, wrapping around a wet, hissing, bloodstained tongue. Spyro's shoulders were fitted with three large spikes that stuck out sideways, making a shoulder barge incredibly dangerous, and his wing-tips were even fitted with large, golden blades, much like Cynder's. His claws were long and curved, and would do a good deal of damage, and his tailblade was horrendous to look at; large, serrated, jagged, and covered in blood that shone in the rays of the dying sun, as thick black smoke from Dark Peak filled the sky above them.
Cynder could not hold back her emotion upon seeing Spyro. She let out a shrill, ear-piercing scream as she ran forward, lips pulled back in a savage snarl that exposed almost every one of her fangs, and plenty of bright pink gum. She could hear Pyron and Parlin protesting behind her, but she couldn't hear what they were saying. She didn't want to hear what they were saying. The guardians were in trouble, and she wanted revenge on Spyro. She wanted her bloody revenge.
With a loud roar, Cynder sprang into the air, a croaky, savage roar bellowing from her throat, which hurt from all the shouting she had done earlier as she ran towards Spyro. As she soared through the air, she raised both her forepaws, claws glistening in the dying sunlight, and fangs bared. She struggled not to lick her lips as she longed to taste Spyro's blood.
Cynder had been hoping to catch Spyro off guard, but the Dark Overlord was prepared, as he whirled around and swung his jagged tailblade in a wide arc towards her, and left her soaring sideways into the wall of an empty library, a terrible wound streaking along both of her flanks and across her belly. She screamed in pain, red blood flooding from the wound and onto the ground below her, pooling around her paws until her paws were drenched in her blood. She was in the most pain she had ever been. Looking down, the wound was not fatal, she could tell, but it was pretty deep and hurt like hell, immense amounts of blood streaming from the wound.
Tyrax and Pyron ran to her aid, moving around the perimeter of the courtyard to avoid Spyro, and Parlin, snarling, ran towards Spyro with a savage roar, much like Cynder had before her. Parlin was not as lucky as her. With a large swing of Spyro's tailblade, Parlin's head was severed from her neck, letting out a massive spray of gore, and she fell to the ground in two pieces, her face a frozen look of pure hatred, fangs bared and eyes narrow, as her tongue lolled lazily onto the floor. Blood spilled from her neck and up through her throat, and Volteer almost slipped in the pool of blood left over from the rolling head as he narrowly dodged a large claw that threatened to cut his eye out.
Spyro let out a deep, throaty roar as he turned around, blood finally being drawn from him as Terrador raked his claws down Spyro's side. The Dark Overlord's eyes began to increase in its intensity, the bright red eyes blinding and piercing through Terrador's soul, and he couldn't move, no matter how hard he tried. "MOVE, TERRADOR!" Cynder heard Volteer scream. Cyril was already running towards Terrador, head lowered to headbutt the frozen earth guardian out of the way.
The ice guardian screeched to a halt as Terrador let out a terrible, shrill, ear-piercing scream which should have been impossible for someone with as deep a voice as his. Blood streamed from his head as his skull cracked from the force of the tailblade that ran cleanly through one side of his head and out the other, and his head fell forwards slightly, the back of his pierced skull resting on the golden, blood-stained tailblade that had pierced the skull and skewered his brain. He gave Cynder a brief glance, eyes wide and pupils tiny, regret and guilt glistening relentlessly in the two orbs. The glance was quick as Terrador's breath suddenly failed him, and his shriek cut off abruptly, before his eyes rolled back in his head, nothing but the white sclerae showing through the eye sockets, and saliva pooled around his lips. With a throaty cackle, the Dark Overlord pulled his weapon free forcefully, sending huge amounts of blood and pieces of severed brains spraying all over the ground. Terrador fell limply to the floor, his head twisted at an awkward angle so that Terrador's white, sightless eyes stared horrifically at Cynder.
She couldn't hear herself screaming. But she could feel her lungs giving way as she screamed with one breath. Cynder broke down in tears. Terrador lay on the ground, staring at her with hideous white eyes, dead. He was gone. The strong, stubborn earth dragon who she never thought could be killed was gone. Murdered. In the most terrible way possible.
Volteer attacked Spyro, tears brimming in his eyes, and Spyro slashed his claws at Volteer furiously, drawing hideous amounts of blood, and Cyril turned towards Cynder eyes also welling with tears. "GET OUT OF HERE! TAKE VETAR AND GO!" he screamed.
"No! NO!" Cynder shrieked, recomposing herself from her shock. "I won't leave you here to die! I will fight to the end!"
"This is not your fight, Cynder! Now's not your time!"
"How do you know?!"
"I just do, okay?!" Cyril shouted. "LEAVE US HERE! THIS IS OUR TIME TO DIE!"
Reluctantly, Cynder scrambled to her paws, and Pyron wrapped a wing around her to stabilise her. Tyrax ran towards Vetar, helping him to his paws. As they all stood and hobbled slowly out of the courtyard, Cynder heard Cyril let out a roar of pain.
Regretting her decision to look back, Cynder turned her head and saw as Cyril fell to the ground, dead, his heart pulled savagely from his chest as it sat skewered on Spyro's bloody tailblade, bloody arteries hanging from the skewered organ and dripping blood all over the ground. The Dark Overlord shook the organ to the side, sending it rolling along the ground towards her, leaving bloody entrails sprayed along the ground behind it. Cynder screamed with fear and shock, having never seen anything so savage for a long time. "GO!" she heard Volteer scream, long and loud, before his screams became ones of unending agony.
Tears streamed down Cynder's face as she turned and hobbled off, away from the horrors that she had witnessed. Volteer's cries filled the air behind her, before they cut off abruptly, and Cynder knew he was dead. All three guardians. Killed within a few mere seconds.
Cynder collapsed a few blocks away from the courtyard, almost bringing Pyron with her. Spyro would find her here, she knew it. She didn't care what happened. She wouldn't care if Spyro found her. Everything was over. Those she had loved as a child: Spyro, Ignitus, Terrador, Volteer and Cyril; they were all gone. Spyro taken by darkness. The guardians all killed. Cynder couldn't hold back her tears. She could hear Pyron urging her to get up, but the sound of his voice was hazy. Distant. The screams of Terrador, Volteer and Cyril filled her head, and her head throbbed. The end had come, and she would welcome it willingly. She wanted to live another day, but she knew that Spyro would find her, and he would take her with him to Dark Peak, or even better, kill her.
There was a loud roar behind her, and she knew her time was up. She turned back to see Spyro running towards her, knocking Tyrax, Pyron and Vetar out of the way with his wings, before leaping towards her. He pinned her to the ground, a sinister smile etched onto his face. Red blood dripped down his face and onto Cynder's chest, and she shook with fear. Bloody claws pinned her forcefully to the ground. The blood of the guardians.
Cynder was too scared to speak. Her voice failed her. But she silently willed Spyro to end it all. One swift strike and she wouldn't have to worry anymore. One swipe across her throat and it'd all be over. Just kill me! Cynder pleaded in her mind. Kill me now!
Spyro opened his blood-stained mouth and spoke. "Where is it?" he scowled. His voice was horrific. His breath reeked of bloody death. Cynder's heart smashed against her chest, and she didn't know what to say. Spyro drew another breath and growled angrily. "Where is it, Cynder?! I know you have it!"
"What? What are you looking for?" Cynder asked, fear gripping her like a vice, tears streaming fown her face.
"You know damn well what I want, Cynder!" Spyro shouted, bloodied saliva spraying from his lips and onto her chest. Cynder didn't answer him, and he dug his claws into Cynder's flesh, before asking again, more forcefully, as he thrusted his face into Cynder's, his horrific red gaze staring into her teary emerald eyes. "Where is the damned Sound Gem?!"
"I don't know! I don't know where it is, I swear!" Cynder wailed, fear grasping her even harder, getting to the point where she felt she could not breathe.
"You deny that you have it!" Spyro's eyes glowed a blinding white as he said this.
"I don't have it!"
Cynder felt pain flare through her neck as Spyro let out a roar of frustration and thrust his claws up, slicing through her flesh and cutting her choker so it came off her neck. There was a bright glow from inside the choker, and Spyro, who was still on top of Cynder, reached down into the destroyed choker, before pulling out a glowing grey, almost white crystal. The Sound Gem, Cynder realised. She had had it all this time. But why? But there was a more important question that should be asked instead. "Why do you want it?" Cynder asked. "What does it do?"
"Does it matter to you?" Spyro shot back.
"Why do you want it?" Cynder repeated, more forcefully this time. "What does it do?"
"It allows the person wielding it to hear things around them better, even causing them to hear things in other parts of the world, much like you have recently, in being able to hear the dragons of Jorgarath, and the slaves in Dark Peak. I managed to track this thing down by you using it, albeit unintentionally. But I will only tell you why I want it if you join me. Chance number two. Come with me, my love. I will show you everything I've been working on! I know you'll love it!" Spyro said with an evil cackle.
"No. I'd rather die than join you!" Cynder snarled.
Spyro's features hardened. "Fair enough. But I won't kill you. I'll leave you here to suffer, to revel in the glory of your precious guardians' deaths!"
With that, Spyro spread out his wings, and let out a loud, deafening roar, before taking to the skies, and air returned to Cynder's lungs. Cynder looked up and saw that the sky was filled with retreating shadowclaws and poison dragons. She heard Spyro's voice as he left. "I hope the venomfangs treated you well!"
Venomfangs. He must mean the poison dragons. Cynder thought, before thinking back to what he had said about the Sound Gem. So the voices I was hearing… earlier today and just before the siege on Jorgarath… that was the Sound Gem's doing? I didn't even know I had it. And why did I have it? Did Malefor give it to me at some point? To use as a weapon to navigate and to track down the enemy?
"Are you alright?" Pyron asked, walking forward.
"I'm fine, but I can't move." Cynder said. "Don't try to move me. It hurts."
"Alright. We'll rest for a while, especially as we can do so now." Vetar replied, his voice croaky. "I need to rest as well. I'm sure Tyrax and your friend will, too. I didn't get your name, I'm sorry."
"Pyron. I'm Pyron." the fire dragon said.
"Nice to meet you." Vetar replied.
"Shouldn't we all be going somewhere safer to rest? Rather than being out in the open?" Tyrax asked.
"They're not going to attack again so soon after leaving? Plus, barely any of us can move right now. We need to rest up right here, right now. We're safe for now, so we may as well rest while we can."
Time passed. She didn't know how much time had passed. But a long time had passed, probably hours. The sun had set, and the sky was filled with the darkness of night. She stood to her paws, her abdomen aching painfully. She looked back at Tyrax, Pyron and Vetar, who had stopped in the courtyard to rest with her. They had all fallen asleep, exhausted from the action. Cynder had been unable to go to sleep though, the memories of the guardians' deaths still vivid in her mind. Cynder turned around, before limping slowly back towards the courtyard they had been in just hours before.
She walked towards the corpses of Terrador and Cyril. Wait… Just Terrador and Cyril? Cynder thought. Where's Volteer?
She looked around, and saw a large pool of blood which had streaked off, before she lost sight of the bloody lines in the darkness. Volteer died. She heard his screams cut off abruptly, signifying his death. But Volteer's corpse was gone. Had Spyro taken him? If so, why? Why did Spyro need Volteer's corpse?
One thought filled Cynder's head. She knew she was probably wrong, but it was better than nothing concerning Volteer's disappearance. Bloodlust. Spyro said in my dreams 'bloodlust'. He's wanting blood, and more and more of it. He's probably using Volteer's blood for something. Possibly for his own sick hunger. Cynder thought, her face contorting into an ugly snarl. He'll feast on his blood tonight. Either that or he's using it in an experiment or something.
Cynder turned and walked towards Terrador. The blood had crusted around his head, and his eyes still lay open, white and sightless. Cynder reached out with her claws and closed the earth guardian's eyelids and jaws, leaving his body in peace, and turned to do the same for Cyril, whose blood had also crusted around his chest. The stench was terrible. Dried blood and rotting flesh filled the air, and she hated it. We'll bury them tomorrow. I'll be sure of that. Cynder thought. Right now, I need to rest.
Wanting to spend the night with the only reminders of those she loved as a child, she walked off to the side of the courtyard, giving Terrador and Cyril some space out of respect, before curling up on the ground and crying herself to sleep.
Well here's Chapter 20 for you! How was it? I feel like around this chapter and onwards is where the story really starts to get interesting, and I'm really looking forward to getting some of the later chapters up soon.
One of my friends tracked down a free game on Steam called Deceit, and it is so good. I highly recommend playing it. Only had it for three days and I've already got 10 hours of game time (which is a lot for me). So that's what I've been doing for the past few days.
No reviews to respond to unfortunately, but I hope you all enjoyed the last chapter, and even more so, this chapter. The death scenes this chapter were extremely fun to write, and I think I captured the horror of the moment well.
Anyway, see you all around with another chapter soon!