Cynder faltered. No. There was no way in hell that this dragon could be her brother. She had no family. She refused to believe him. "You're lying. Darkness is all about deceit and lies, I should know." Cynder murmured.
"Stop living a lie, Cynder." the dragon chuckled. "You had to come from somewhere. You had to have had a family at some point, you demented freak."
"Demented?! You're calling me demented?!"
"Yes, we are." Spyro answered for the dragon, a wide grin making its way across his lava-projected face. "I need you here with me. It's either you join me, or you die. So, what will you choose?"
"I'll never join you!" Cynder scowled. "Stop asking me!"
"Sure. The three chances I gave to you are over. You're as good as dead to me now, my dear." Spyro replied with a chuckle, before turning to the grey dragon. "Aerus, kill her."
"What?!" Cynder exclaimed. "If this dragon… Aerus… is truly my brother, why would you get him to kill me?"
"Because I'm an assassin. Spyro's my master, and you have no more worth to him." Aerus said darkly, an evil snarl pulling at his blood-stained lips as he began to advance slowly towards her. "I'm not a general like you used to be, but I am a murderer. And it's my job to finish what I've started."
With that, Aerus lunged at Cynder, bloody claws outstretched and jaws wide open, dripping with bloodied saliva. Cynder ducked under Aerus, turning around and raising her claws to strike. Aerus was too fast. He spun around and caught Cynder's left forepaw in his mouth, biting down hard to the point where she felt the bone began to break under the force of Aerus' bite. Cynder let out a cry of pain, pulling hard to try and get it out. It didn't work. Only more pain flared from her paw. She suddenly felt Aerus begin to tug back, trying to rip her paw off. Small pops and cracks began to sound from her paw. Cynder growled, diving into her shadow and freeing her paw. Damn, wish I thought of that earlier. she thought as she leapt out of her shadow, driving her horns into Aerus' chest. Aerus growled, stepping backwards as Cynder landed on the ground safely.
A burst of lava burst from the hot volcanic liquid underneath them, spraying molten rock and ash everywhere. Cynder unfolded her wings, blocking her face from the spraying lava. Aerus was unfazed by it. The lava sprayed over and around him, not touching any part of his body at all. Cynder unfolded her wings once the lava fountain ended and swore, lunging at Aerus. Aerus caught her by the throat in his jaws, and turned around, holding her over the pit of lava underneath them. Cynder let out a strained croak, and she tried to swing herself back to a ledge. Aerus dropped her, and she lashed out with a yelp, grabbing onto the rocky beam that Aerus was standing on. Her brother sneered, before he opened his mouth and breathed a gust of wind at Cynder. She lost her grip.
She fell, screaming, feeling the heat of the magma stronger than ever. She heard Aerus, her own brother, laughing and throwing insults at her. Cynder scowled, unfolding her wings and taking to the skies, flying back around and circling Aerus. "So you're a wind dragon, huh?" Cynder asked, mainly to herself, but loud enough for Aerus to hear.
"So are you, sister!" Aerus scowled. "Why do you think your wind element is the only one that isn't of dark origins?"
She hadn't thought of it like that before. She scowled with annoyance as she thought that, realising she had let Aerus get to her. Cynder growled and spat a glob of poison at Aerus, and the acid sprayed all over the right side of his face, sizzling loudly. Aerus growled in pain before he opened his mouth wide, wider than most dragons' (like Vhara's), and swiped his long, wet tongue around his face, licking up the poison. A low guttural growl emanated from his throat as his tongue retreated back into his maw. The growl turned into a deep roar, before turning into an ear-piercing screech. Cynder cried out in pain, covering her ears as she flew in place in the air.
Aerus stopped screaming, and took in a deep breath, before he spoke, deep, distorted tones underneath his normal voice. Immediately, Cynder could tell he was being possessed by Spyro. "Stop fighting me, Cynder! I will never leave you! Even if you leave here, I will track you down, and I will kill you, no matter what it takes!" 'Aerus' scowled.
"Get out of him Spyro!" Cynder growled. "Release him from your captivity! He's not your slave!"
"He never was." The distorted voice came from Aerus' mouth. "We have always been a team since he came here, wanting to be like you. Demon and assassin. The assassins here are part of my network, a part of me! And I am a part of them, literally, as I possess them! So I am him, as he is me. We are one!"
A strangled cry rose from Aerus' throat, without the deep undertones, and he wrenched his eyes shut. As Aerus cried out, his mouth widened even further than it had earlier, giving a horrific display of blood-soaked fangs and a dark, pink, fleshy throat, where a long, slobbery tongue snaked out of. Long strings of saliva dripped from his jaws, shaking wildly under the stress of his heavy breathing and loud cries.
Aerus opened his eyes, and they were no longer normal grey eyes. They were blood red, and black spots filled his sclerae. Aerus let out another scream, this time it was distorted. Spyro spoke from inside Aerus again, his massive head of molten rock moving over behind him through the magma beneath them, their lips working in unison as they spoke with one voice. "Join your brother, Cynder. He longs to be with his sister again! Become one with him, as he is one with me! Become an assassin! Not a war general, like what you once were, but a dedicated assassin! You used to get so much pleasure from killing!" Spyro growled, his voice mixing with the voice that came from Aerus' vocal chords.
Aerus' original voice suddenly spoke back. "Get out of me!" Aerus screamed. "I don't want it!"
"He's fighting back." Cynder said quietly, mainly to herself, before she burst out in loud cheering. "He's fighting back! Come on, Aerus! Believe in yourself!"
"Come on, Cynder! You're so naïve. You can't just fight me! I'm stronger than Malefor ever was!" Spyro growled, speaking through Aerus again, blood-red irises glowing immensely as Spyro spoke. "He can't fight back! I am him, as he is me! We are one, Cynder! We are one! WE… ARE… ONE!"
The final word seemed to growl on for eternity, the roaring voice of Spyro and Aerus' screams murging into one muddled up shriek, and the sound hammered against Cynder's ears. She forced herself to the ground in front of Aerus, her wings beginning to hurt, no longer able to support her weight as her vision began to darken, the darkness radiating from Aerus' body too much for her to handle. Aerus screamed out in his normal voice, in amongst the roaring, distorted voice, speaking to Spyro or Cynder, she didn't know, and she couldn't understand what he was trying to say; Spyro's unending roar was too loud.
Watching Aerus in so much pain hurt her, and she knew this needed to stop. Aerus wasn't strong enough to beat the battle raging inside his body. Maybe she could help. She noticed dark energy began to seep out of his throat, as well as his wounds and from between his scales. His body was filling up with dark energy, and she needed to get it out of him.
She knew what she needed to do.
Cynder took a battle stance, her vision still failing, and she took two groggy steps forward, before she swung her tailblade around forcefully, slicing it through Aerus' chest. The grey dragon let out a scream as dark energy burst from the deep, bloody wound, lips peeled back almost as far as they could go, saliva dripping from his jaws. Aerus' eyes rolled back in his head, and blood began to stream from his eye sockets and nostrils. The scream went on for what felt like eternity, until he fell to the ground, half-conscious, whimpering and sobbing uncontrollably.
Spyro swore at her. "You will die for this, Cynder! You killed my assassin!" he scowled, rushing towards her through the lava.
Knowing he was just a projection, she breathed a strong pulse of wind at the head of lava, and with a loud howl, the projection of Spyro dispersed, and the lava fell to the pool of magma below with a splash. Then there was silence. Well, somewhat. The only thing that broke the silence was the soft bubbling of the magma below them and Aerus' heavy sobs.
Cynder and Aerus remained alone and silent for a minute before Cynder spoke up. "Are you alright?" Cynder asked.
"No! No, I'm not alright!" Aerus snapped, looking up at her with red, teary eyes, dried blood still streaked down his face. "The things I've said! The things I've done! I hate myself for all of it!"
"I know what it's like, brother." Cynder said. She inhaled to continue speaking, but Aerus interrupted her.
"No, you don't, Cynder! You don't know what it's like to be an assassin controlled by a being of darkness! You'll never know what it's like!" he howled.
"I DO KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE YOU DAMNED IDIOT!" Cynder screamed. "Why the hell else do you think I'm not grey like you? Or that I never knew who my family was? Or that I've been hated and tormented for all my life for what I was forced to do!"
Aerus jumped at her outburst and began to cry harder. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" he whimpered. Over and over again, he repeated the same two words. "I'm sorry!"
"Aerus, I'm sorry for snapping at you like that. I'm just… freaking out. Worried. Scared." Cynder apologised, trying to speak as gently as possible to soothe the troubled dragon down. "Shocked. You're my brother for crying out loud! I didn't even know I still had family alive!"
"Mum and Dad love you, Cynder. You know that, right? Even after what you did as that monster… they still loved you. I never understood why, but after I heard that you were freed from that torment, and I heard rumours that you helped save the world, I… I don't know. I suddenly realised that it wasn't your fault." Aerus explained through tears and sniffles.
"Which means that they still love you, no matter what you did while you were possessed. I love you. You're my brother for the ancestors' sakes! How could I not?!"
Aerus sniffled, standing up and embracing Cynder, crying into her shoulder, murmuring his thanks and apologies countless times before he pulled back. "I'm proud of you Aerus. You pulled through it all." Cynder said.
Aerus was about to open his mouth to reply, until the ground suddenly began to shake from underneath their paws, and the bubbling of the magma underneath them got more violent. "We need to get out of here!" Cynder cried, turning towards the entrance that Aerus had pushed her through earlier, but the ground shook again. Rocks fell down from the roof of the entrance, blocking her way out of it. Cynder figured she could still get under with her shadow element, and pull Aerus under with her, as long as she still had access to the ground, but about five metres of the stone ledge in front of the caved-in entrance cracked and fell into the magma, sending a large, roaring fountain of lava into the air. Cynder cursed, not noticing Aerus flinch behind her at her foul language. "Is there another exit?" she asked Aerus.
"Yeah! This place may look like and be used like a furnace, but really, it's a magma chamber of a volcano. Dark Peak is actually an active volcano, and Spyro's rebuilt it and used a few spells on it so that the magma goes straight up from the funnel, not outwards, as that would destroy his base." Aerus said, turning around. "But it looks like he's blocking off the entrances so we can't get out. One of the spells was around this furnace so the lava couldn't spill out the entrances."
"Well… how do we get out then?!" Cynder asked.
"Find an entrance that isn't blocked!" Aerus cried, opening his wings and taking to the air.
Cynder was about to do the same, but as she spread out her wings, a plume of lava burst out beside her, and hot, molten rock sprayed over her left wing, and it began to sizzle. She let out a scream and shook her wing, throwing the small droplets of the lava off her wing, but now she was downed. "Aerus! I can't fly!" Cynder cried. "My left wing's been immobilised!"
Aerus groaned and turned, flying back down to Cynder and grabbing her in all four of his limbs, lifting his sister off the thin, unstable rocky platform as another plume of lava suddenly burst out from underneath it, destroying the platform where Cynder had been standing. Had Aerus been any later, Cynder would have been burned to a crisp.
Aerus gasped. "Look! There's one that hasn't been blocked yet!" he cried, flying up towards the entrance. "And Garren's throwing garbage through it!"
"Who's Garren?" Cynder asked.
"GARREN! GARREN, DOWN HERE!" Aerus shouted, not heeding her question.
Cynder noticed an earth dragon at the entrance they were heading towards, and he looked down at them. He was throwing bones and rotten corpses, as well as lots of other pieces of junk down into the well of lava. "Aerus?!" the earth dragon, Garren, exclaimed.
"GET US OUT OF HERE, QUICK!" Aerus shouted.
Garren abandoned what he was doing and leapt back out of the magma chamber 'furnace', allowing Aerus and Cynder room to get out. They burst through the entrance as the magma chamber erupted full force with a pillar of lava. The heat was astounding, and Cynder coughed as ash was sprayed out of the entrance to the furnace, nothing more.
"Aerus! You're alright! I thought you were…!" Garren cried.
"I'm fine. Cynder saved me." Aerus interrupted, looking down at his sister, coughing violently on the ground, her burned wing sagging down along her flank. "She's my sister."
"Nice to meet you, Cynder." Garren said. "I've heard of you a fair bit from Darrenfell, the city I come from, but I've never actually met you. And for you to be the sister of my best friend, I'm really quite surprised."
Cynder coughed again, standing up. "Nice to meet you too… Garren, I think it was." she replied, receiving a nod from Garren. "How long have you been here?"
"Uh… probably a month now. Same as Aerus. He and his family got here a few days before I did." Garren explained.
"A month?! You've been here for almost the majority of this war!" Cynder exclaimed, suddenly realising something that Garren had said. "Wait, the rest of Aerus'… my family… is here?!" It felt weird to call Aerus' family her own, but she liked it.
"Yeah, Mum and Dad are here, too. We finally managed to track down where you lived, and so we tried to come and visit. Unfortunately, we got caught up in this mess on the way to Warfang." Aerus explained.
"I'm sorry…" Cynder apologised.
"Don't be." Aerus insisted, before his face lit up. "Do you want me to show you to them? Spyro said that today's their day off! They're just in their cells doing whatever, not having to do any slave work today!"
"Probably so he could get to you… I don't know." Cynder said, discomfort in her voice.
"Come on! Let's go!" Aerus said, completely ignoring what Cynder had said. "I'll make sure we don't get seen!"
And so, after saying goodbye to Garren, Aerus led Cynder down a windy path through the caves. He got to a section of the cave quite close by, narrowly avoiding a shadowclaw and venomfang, where cells lined every wall. "Shadowclaws and venomfangs don't end up here that often, but Shorok and Vhara usually show up here." Aerus whispered. "Sometimes the fleshy dragons come down here, as well. Apparently, they're a new test for one of Spyro's new dark dragon species. They took a dragon away for testing for the new species. Never came back. Heard that the test was successful, though."
Cynder swallowed. She was worried now. There might be a catch to the flesh dragons. She was just lucky that she had managed to kill the one she got acquainted with quick enough before it could do anything to her.
Aerus stopped beside her as he stopped. "What?" Cynder asked, stopping as well.
"They're gone. My parents are gone!" Aerus croaked. "Our parents!"
"Hey, Aerus! Is that you?" a dragoness whispered from behind them.
Aerus and Cynder turned around, and saw a beautiful, but terribly scarred, young ice dragoness, in chains inside her cell. "Yes it is, Myrren. Why?" Aerus asked.
"Spyro came by about a minute ago. He took your parents away. I'm not sure why." Myrren explained, her voice quivering. "Think he said something about torture."
"Oh no!" Aerus cried, turning and sprinting off. "That was why they were given a day off! So he could torture them!"
Cynder ran after him, whispering as loudly as she could. "Aerus! Aerus, come back! You'll get yourself killed!"
It wasn't long before she caught up to her brother; somehow, they still hadn't been caught by any shadowclaws or venomfangs. Aerus turned a corner and slowed. "Aerus, what in the ancestors' names are you doing?" Cynder scowled quietly.
"If they're being tortured, they'll be in here; the torture chamber." Aerus explained.
"Are you a damned idiot?! We'll get killed if we're spotted here!"
"We might not be. No one's taken any notice of us yet."
"That might change real soon."
"They're our parents! We can't just leave them! Don't you want to meet your parents?"
"I do, but… this doesn't feel right!"
Aerus scoffed and turned around, stalking off down the entrance to the torture chamber. Cynder swore under her breath, going after Aerus to make sure he didn't get in trouble. "You have a real potty mouth, Cynder." Aerus deadpanned. "Us wind dragons never stoop down low enough to swear."
"Well apparently to some, I'm not a wind dragon anymore. I'm still the Terror of the Skies."
Aerus didn't take any notice of Cynder's deadpanned remark, and stopped at the sound of shouting voices. Spyro's voice. Footsteps were heard. A shadow came around from the corner of the large room. The large room with sharp torture tools and tables and guillotines and… blood… splattered all over the floor. A brain and a severed wing lay on the ground as well, dried blood crusted around them. Cynder leapt at Aerus, tackling him to the ground as she dragged him underneath a low table in the corner of the room, which they got a marvellous view of. Cynder's burned wing rubbed painfully against Aerus' side, smearing pus and blood all over his right shoulder. He didn't seem to notice as Spyro walked into the room holding chains in his mouth. Two wind dragons, one male and one female, were chained up behind him, bleeding quite badly. Cynder heard Aerus' breath hitch at the sight of them, and she realised, these were her parents. She mouthed the words 'mother' and 'father'. They felt foreign to her lips.
Spyro let go of the chains, letting them fall to the floor with a clatter, before he turned and rammed his horns into the wind dragoness, Cynder and Aerus' mother, knocking her over, belly up, onto a large wooden table with a thud. Cynder's mother screamed in pain, and the male dragon, her father, let out a small sob. Spyro turned to him with a snarl. "Shut the hell up, Fyrus, or you'll get even more punishment than you deserve." he scowled, and Cynder's father, Fyrus, nodded with a whimper, mouthing a prayer to the ancestors.
Spyro turned and grabbed an axe that was hanging on the wall, holding it in his mouth by the handle, as he padded back towards Cynder's mother, before raising a paw and taking the axe out of his maw. He turned it over a few times in his paw, revelling in the sheen of the sharp blade. "The legendary Axe of the Gûlron Tribe, wielded by many an ape in battle, mainly by the ones in high rankings. I heard Parûhl, Gaul's predecessor, used this axe quite often, before it was lost in the Battle of Typhaar. Your mother died by this axe, didn't she, Kreshaar?" Spyro asked with a chuckle.
Kreshaar, Cynder's mother, began to weep, breathing heavily. Spyro growled, raising the axe. "Damn you to the ancestors, Kreshaar! Answer me when I speak to you!" Spyro cursed.
"Yes." Kreshaar muttered.
Cynder's eyes widened. She had never heard anyone 'damn' another person to the ancestors before. Well, Spyro was on hell's side after all. She looked to her left. Aerus was beginning to lose it. Hold it in, Aerus. We can't be found here. Cynder thought.
"I didn't hear you, Kreshaar." Spyro said in a dangerous tone.
"Yes." Kreshaar repeated, slightly louder, her voice quivering as she wept.
"So answer me well, or I will slice your stomach open with the same blade that killed your mother, got it?" Spyro ordered.
Kreshaar nodded, the words failing to leave her mouth. With a growl, Spyro lashed out, cutting Kreshaar's paw clean off with the axe, blood spilling from the stump like a fountain, as Kreshaar let out a scream. Fyrus let out a cry as well as he watched the disembodied paw fall with a thud to the ground, blood from Kreshaar's stump spilling down onto the paw. Spyro growled. "Did I not just tell you a few seconds ago to be quiet, Fyrus?!" he roared, turning to Kreshaar without waiting for an answer. "And I want you to answer me verbally, Kreshaar. Understood?"
"Yes." Kreshaar sobbed.
Then, another paw was gone, landing with a thud next to the first one, blood splattering all over the ground, and Kreshaar let out a howl. "'Yes, Spyro.'" Spyro ordered sternly.
"Yes, Spyro." Kreshaar repeated in amongst pained screams.
"Alright, so tell me, Kreshaar. Why were you making trouble in the main hall yesterday? Why were you being disobedient?" Spyro asked.
"Because I was told to bow to Vhara, and to disown my son, whom you corrupted three days ago." Kreshaar answered, her breath heavy and irregular, tears streaming down her face and blood running down her legs. "I vowed at the age of fourteen that I will only bow to Queen Lehftin, the Queen of Typhaar, and after what happened with my daughter, I will not let go of my son, especially after the way you took him from me like my daughter was taken by Malefor."
Spyro clucked his tongue. "I didn't like that answer."
In two wild slashes, Spyro brought the axe down unto Kreshaar's stomach, ripping flesh with a horrible squelching sound, and blood sprayed everywhere. Her entire belly was stained red, and her stomach was visible, split open and digestive juices seeping slowly out of it. Kreshaar shrieked with pain, only stopping to take short, powerful heaves of oxygen before she continued howling. Fyrus was bawling now, his mate's blood splattered all over the floor and his chest. Cynder swallowed hard and heard Aerus weeping softly beside her.
Spyro let out a growl. "I said shut up!" he howled at Fyrus, turning and throwing the axe he held at Fyrus, embedding itself half-way into his neck. Fyrus was instantly silenced as he fell into a heap on the ground, blood streaming from his neck.
"NO!" Aerus screamed, long and loud, until he was cut off by Cynder as she shoved her paws over his muzzle.
"You damn idiot!" Cynder whispered hoarsely, before going quiet and looking to the direction of Spyro and Kreshaar. The latter was still screaming in pain.
Spyro froze upon hearing Aerus' scream. "Someone's here." he growled, before swearing twice, turning to Kreshaar. "Did you have any part of this?! Are you leading a rebellion?!"
"No! No, I swear I'm not!" Kreshaar pleaded. "Please don't hurt me again! Please!"
Spyro swore, raising his paw and shoving his claws into Kreshaar's eye sockets, and she was instantly blinded. She let out another scream as blood welled up in her eye sockets, rolling down her face, replacing the tears that her eyes could no longer produce as Spyro retreated his claws, taking both eyeballs with them. Aerus mumbled hoarsely in Cynder's grip, and Cynder suddenly felt tears brim in her eyes as she mouthed a violent curse.
"Tell me now! Who the hell is in here?! And why the hell did you disobey orders in the main hall yesterday?!" Spyro screamed, his voice distorting in rage.
"I don't know who's in here! I swear I don't!" Kreshaar howled, searching around sightlessly, and flinched as she heard Spyro let out a guttural growl. "I swear on the damn ancestors I don't know who the hell is in here!"
Aerus flinched, hearing his mother use vulgar language for the first time, albeit slightly mild, as compared to Cynder's violent curses. Kreshaar's pleading was useless, however, as Spyro opened his jaws wide and lunged at Kreshaar's neck, before twisting his head, cracking the neck in his maw. Spyro lifted his head forcefully, separating Kreshaar's head from her neck with a sickening wet snap, sending blood and entrails spraying everywhere. He dropped Kreshaar's head, and it landed on the ground with a splatter, blood spilling out from her neck and eyes, tongue lolling sideways onto the floor. Aerus let out a muffled scream. His mother's eyes stared sightlessly back at him, horror filling his heart.
"I hear you. Come out, intruder." Spyro growled, before he swore.
Aerus' breath went hard, and his screams became harder and louder. Cynder had finally had enough. She leapt out from under the table, ramming it into Spyro's face, sending him stumbling backwards. Cynder grabbed Aerus and lifted him onto her back, ignoring the pain it put on her burned wing, and ran off out of the bloodied torture chamber.
Aerus was howling now as Cynder ran. She prayed to the ancestors that she would find the way out of Dark Peak, and shouted as she heard Spyro's roars echoing behind her, as well as many screeches. Cynder swore and picked up the pace. She turned a corner and her breath hitched as she found the way she had entered Dark Peak, the sunrise entirely visible through the large hole. "STOP HER!" she heard Spyro roaring.
Cynder made the mistake of looking behind her, and saw Vhara running up towards her, jaws wide open and her second row of fangs protruding out of the flesh in her green mouth. Cynder screamed, turning her head around and staring out into the sunrise.
She jumped into the air, using her wind element, gifted to her by birth, to lift her and Aerus up into the air by manipulating the air around them. They flew for a few seconds, probably about ten, before Aerus was hit by a well-aimed glob of poison from afar. Cynder cursed as Aerus fell off her back and down to the ground, screaming and gurgling in pain. In her panic, Cynder lost control of the wind keeping her up, and she fell too. She quickly caught up with Aerus, frantically searching for where the glob of poison had landed. She found it, and in a rush, dug her claws into Aerus' flesh, prying it open, before calling on her poison energy to absorb the poison in Aerus' body.
Suddenly, pain flared through her body, and everything went black.
Cynder's eyes opened. Everything hurt. She spent a while trying to remember why she was here, lying in the grass, unconscious, until the events of what had happened earlier that morning entered her head. She felt a tear slip down her muzzle. She had met her brother, Aerus, and had found his parents… her parents… in the torture chamber, where they had been tortured and murdered brutally by Spyro.
She leapt up with a gasp as she remembered Aerus. He had been hit by poison. Was he safe? Had she called the poison out quick enough before she had blacked out? She looked around, ignoring the pain, before she found Aerus sitting on a rock a few metres away from her, head hanging low, his body heaving with sobs. Cynder stood and limped towards him, sitting next to her brother.
They sat in silence for a while as Aerus wept uncontrollably. Cynder felt the need to comfort him, but she didn't know what to say. His parents had died. Sure, Kreshaar and Fyrus were her parents too, but she didn't know them. Their deaths had hurt her, but not personally. She saw innocent people's lives being taken from them, but she never saw them as her parents' lives. She didn't know what to feel about that.
Cynder swallowed, and opened her mouth to speak, leaving it hanging open as she tried to figure out what to say. She closed it again and swallowed, before inhaling and beginning to speak. "Are you alright?" She mentally clawed herself for the stupid question.
Aerus rounded on her with fury. "DOES IT LOOK LIKE I'M ALRIGHT?!" he shrieked, eyes bright red and tears streaming down his face.
She started, her face filled with shock at his sudden outburst. Aerus faltered, turning his head and hanging it low again, before he sobbed loudly, whimpering and wailing uncontrollably. "They're gone. I can't believe they're gone." Aerus mumbled between breaths, and Cynder felt bad. She didn't know what to say. Aerus continued to mumble. "The blood. I've never seen so much blood and gore before."
Now Cynder really felt bad. He had been opened to a harsh world so quickly. He had been taken from his parents and corrupted, forced to commit countless murders. But even those murders weren't as bloody and horrid as his parents'. And for his parents to be murdered right in front of him… Cynder couldn't bear the thought. She couldn't even imagine the pain he was going through. She couldn't bring herself to say anything. She couldn't even bring herself to say 'I'm sorry.' And she hated herself for it.
Eventually, Aerus turned to her again. "Why didn't you feel anything? We could have saved Mother. We could have saved Father. But you stayed and hid, forced me back, and it didn't look like you felt anything." Aerus sobbed, swallowing and letting out a choke before he continued, raising his voice in a frustrated roar. "Do you even care?! Where's your heart?! Why are you so emotionless?!"
"I didn't feel anything because I didn't know them." Cynder murmured, and Aerus reeled back in shock, obviously regretting what he had said. Aerus closed his eyes and let out a loud, long wail that faltered into a strained whimper, tears streaming from his reddened eyes. Cynder sighed sadly, continuing to speak. "I know they were my parents. I feel bad because I didn't feel anything. I only saw innocent dragons' lives being taken, nothing more than that. I still felt emotion, but not in a personal way. I never…" Cynder choked and her breath hitched, tears brimming in her eyes, finally showing emotion. "I never got to know them. And now they're gone. I never will."
"We could have stopped it. We could have saved Mother." Aerus wept.
"We would have gotten killed too, if we had. Spyro's not someone to mess with. He… He killed all three guardians as if they were hatchlings."
"He… he what?"
"The guardians are dead because of him. There were the three of them, as well as a highly skilled warrior from the Warfang Army who got away with pretty bad wounds. And they couldn't beat Spyro. There was no way us two alone could have fought Spyro, and taken your moth… our mother… to safety." Cynder was on the verge of weeping now. She inhaled a shuddering breath. "I'm so terribly sorry, brother. Truly. But I need to stay alive, for the good of Warfang. And I need you. You're the only family I have left. It was easier to keep you safe than Mother and Father. You were right next to me."
Aerus nodded, sniffling and breathing heavy, shuddering breaths. "I know. I'm sorry for snapping at you. I just…" he murmured. "I couldn't help but be selfish. For all my life, I've been an only child. I was looking forward to having a sibling, but then your egg was just… gone after that night. When Mum and Dad got the news, they were devastated. They tried to have another, but you were the last egg Mum was able to produce. Her body shut down after the severity of her mourning, and could no longer produce an egg."
Cynder was so hurt when she heard this. She broke down in tears, and she and Aerus wept together, as brother and sister. She embraced her older brother, and he returned the embrace, and they sat there, hugging and weeping uncontrollably together.
Aerus drew a shaky breath after about two minutes of weeping in silence. "We were found about a month ago by Spyro's dark forces, and we were taken in. Spyro immediately knew who we were, I don't know how. He kept threatening us, and we became slaves. I was his personal slave. He threatened Mum and Dad that if they were to do anything wrong, I was to befall the same fate as you." Aerus explained. "They were framed. Vhara's a cunning one, I'll tell you that. She drew her own blood and blamed it on Mum and Dad; I saw the whole thing. Spyro believed it, that f…" He caught himself before he could swear, still believing that a wind dragon didn't curse. "He believed Vhara's façade, and I was corrupted. Three or four days ago, I think it was; I can't remember. He then said if they were to do anything wrong again, then they would be killed at his paws. You know what happened then."
Cynder nodded. "They refused to bow to Vhara." she murmured hoarsely, before she felt more tears flow from her eyes, and she began to cry again.
They remained in the embrace as they tried to calm themselves down, and after ten minutes, they had cried out all their tears. "Now what?" Aerus asked. "What do we do now?"
"Let's head home. To Warfang." Cynder said. "You can stay at my house until you get one of your own; there's plenty of room."
Aerus smiled at his sister. "Thanks."
They called on their wind element, and took to the skies, flying towards Cynder's home in Warfang.
Wooo this one's done! Really happy with this one too.
Well I got three weeks of school left but exam blocks are next week and I'm really stressing out about it. But I can't wait to get school finished and to continue work on 3D modelling and learning C# (still haven't gotten around to doing that), as well as making some more music.
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Derick Lindsey: Your welcome! How was the graphic 'nightmare inducing description' in this chapter for you? :D But I'm still glad you're enjoying this, and thanks for the support.
Guest: Yes, there is a reason for Spyro's corruption. I think I've said this before, but the reason doesn't actually come through until Part 3 of Purple Legacy (but there are a few hints here-and-there in Demonised), mainly because of my terrible planning for the story's timeline, and I can't get it done sooner due to the events of Demonised and Part 2.
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Anyway, that's done. If you enjoyed, leave a review, and I'll see you around next time!