Green blood sprayed the arena as Cynder swung her tailblade clean through the venomfang's throat, causing its head to fall to the ground. Not soon after, the body dissipated, and Cynder turned around to Vetar, who was standing just outside of the arena. The fire dragon sighed sadly.

"Cynder, take a break; you're wearing yourself out," Vetar suggested.

"Vetar, I've said this before: I will stop when I want to stop," the dark purple dragoness replied. "Give me another group."

"But Cynder, overexerting yourself isn't a very smart thing to do."

"What did I just say?"

"Give you another group."

"Yes. I need to practice, now do it."

Vetar stepped back with a roll of his eyes. "You're the most skilled of all of us here, you don't need this much practice," he murmured.

"You can never have too much. I may be good but I need to get better. Faster. More efficient at killing these things so I can save more people. Now give me another damn group already!"

Vetar sighed, before he summoned three more venomfangs inside the arena. The very moment they were summoned, all four dragons inside the arena leapt into action. Two of the venomfangs rushed towards Cynder, who disappeared inside her shadow, causing the venomfangs to leap over her. Quickly, she jumped out of her shadow from underneath one of them, impaling it in the stomach with her large horns, spraying green blood all over her face.

She threw the venomfang to the side, before watching as the second and third venomfangs attacked her, swiping viciously. Cynder sidestepped two attacks, before getting cut across the snout. She dodged another attack, before she found an opening and swung her tailblade around, knocking both venomfangs to the ground.

Cynder raised her claws to start hacking into their heads, but the first venomfang tackled her to the ground, biting strongly into her flesh. The dragoness retaliated with a large stream of shadow fire. The venomfang screeched as it fell off Cynder, desperately trying to get out of the inferno engulfing it.

The second venomfang was up on its paws by this point, and Cynder quickly turned and let out a siren scream at it, causing it to collapse again, snarling as it was taken over by its fear coma.

All Cynder could do against the third venomfang that leapt at her was a massive kick from her hind legs, throwing it back to the ground. Cynder stood as quickly as she could, before releasing another large stream of shadow fire at the first venomfang, watching as it began to cook.

She ended her inferno before stepping towards the burning venomfang and proceeding to hack into its head, digging into the skull to the crystal in its head and smashing it. The venomfang went still. She didn't get a chance to catch her breath as the venomfang she had kicked had recovered, standing to its feet and leaping at her, jaws open wide, strands of venom dripping from its teeth.

Cynder dodged, stepping to the side and letting the venomfang stumble past her. She roared, swinging her tailblade around and slamming it into the back of the venomfang's head. It screeched in pain as it wobbled on the spot, green blood streaming down its skull and nape. It turned with a savage snarl, before Cynder swung her tailblade around a second time, aiming at the dragon's throat.

The venomfang moved forward, catching Cynder's tail in its sharp jaws, causing droplets of red blood to join the green ones all over the arena. Growling in pain, Cynder released another stream of shadow fire, causing the venomfang to open its jaws in a shrill scream and let her tail go.

Cynder staggered backwards, but a sudden pain started to flare up in her chest. She collapsed to the ground with a ragged cough. "Stop the simulation!" Cynder ordered Vetar.

He cursed, before shutting down the simulation, causing the two venomfangs to disappear. Vetar rushed up onto the arena, stopping beside Cynder. She moaned as she clutched her chest. It was an odd sensation, feeling such pain in her chest when she knew nothing was damaged, and she didn't know what could have caused it.

What she did know was that the pain was very similar to what she had felt in Muras' cave. Something was wrong with her essence core.

"Vetar, go get Muras. Now," Cynder ordered.

The fire dragon blinked, before nodding and running off, leaving Cynder alone. She lowered herself on her side, hissing as she clutched her chest, taking large, deep breaths. It wasn't insanely painful, but the sting was sharp enough to be decently noticeable.

She didn't know how much time had passed before Vetar and Muras ran into the room. The purple dragon cursed when he saw Cynder lying on the arena, sprinting up towards her and immediately placing his paws on her chest, a faint lilac glow shining from underneath his paws.

"It's my essence core, isn't it?" Cynder groaned.

"Yeah… it's not doing so good," Muras murmured. "What the hell were you doing?"

"Training."

"How much were you using your elements?"

"Probably a little more than I usually do, but not too much more. I've also fought and trained pretty heavily since my core almost died out, so I don't know what's different this time around."

Lilac particles began to float from his paws as his eyes glowed with the same colour. After a few seconds, he stepped away. "It's overworked. You've been using too much of your elements," Muras explained.

"What? How?! I was using as much elemental attacks as I usually do!" Cynder snapped. "That can't be possible!"

"She was training non-stop for about four or five hours, I can't quite remember," Vetar informed. "She also had many mana gem replenishes."

"How manymuch green gems did you take?" Muras questioned.

"Uhhh probably about three or four each refill," Cynder replied.

"And how many refills did you have?"

"I don't know. At least five."

"Ancestors, Cynder. Your core has been working non-stop for four to five hours, constantly being fed more and more energy to then continue working once its mana reserve is empty. You've put so much stress on it."

"But my core is fine now, isn't it?"

"Damaged essence cores can be repairable, and yours did improve. But your essence core was far more than damaged. It was on the verge of dying when I found you in that forest. There's a chance that even though it's fine and functional, there is some sort of long lasting damage in there. You can use your elements, but you need to know your limit."

Cynder sighed, cursing under her breath. "What the hell am I meant to do in a battle then?"

"Like I said, you can use your elements. You just have to be mindful of how much you're using your elements, and how much mana you continue to feed it. It needs a chance to rest, even if it's thirty or so minutes. If you're in a big battle, there's a chance you may need to focus more on melee attacks, or to let your mana replenish naturally more than relying on green gems to do it for you."

"What?" Cynder exclaimed.

"I don't think it'll be lethal if you overwork your core, but you will be in a lot of pain and could be at risk of making your core's tolerance worse. This is something you may need to be careful of," Muras said.

Cynder punched the floor, cursing Spyro loudly. Her chest flared with pain as she gave her body a large jolt, but her current anger blinded her to the pain.

"Calm down, Cynder. Take it easy," Muras whispered.

"Muras, you know very well I can't; you know I am needed here," Cynder snapped.

"Which is why you should rest and take it easy, while things aren't happening. There's no battle, no one in trouble, nothing. You need rest, Cynder; you've been overworking yourself and worrying so much about all of this since… well, since the war started. I'm sure the rest of the day can't hurt, and now, in a brief moment of calmness, is the right time to slow down and rest."

Cynder swallowed, unsure about the whole prospect. She turned to Vetar. He sighed. "Cynder, if we need you, we will come and get you, but we should be fine. As far as I'm aware, no one will be fighting venomfangs especially today," the fire dragon said.

"If they ask to?" Cynder queried.

"I'll say no. I won't let anyone fight venomfangs without you here. Promise."

"Good. I don't want a repeat of what happened with Korindar."

Cynder shuddered as memories of that horrid night flashed through her head, of walking in on the poor dragon lying on the ground, dying from poisoning. It still tore her apart that she couldn't save him.

Vetar seemed to sense Cynder's discomfort as he stepped forward and put a comforting paw on her shoulder. "I know. It won't happen," he said.

Cynder just nodded, unable to look into Vetar's eyes. She then turned back to Muras. "Is there anything you can do?" she asked.

"No, not really. Feeding your core more gems, even blue gems, would probably harm it even more. It may be painful but it just needs to be given time to rest. I think a day or two should be enough. You can probably get back to work tomorrow, but I'd say no elements tomorrow," the purple dragon responded.

"Ugh, okay…" Cynder groaned.

"Today, if you could just rest, that would be great. Read a book or something. I also think it'll be beneficial for you to take your mind off of… well, everything. You're way too focused and stressed out about this war. I think you need a little getaway, even if it's only for an afternoon."

"Fine, I'll go home and read a book," Cynder said with a roll of her eyes.

The dragoness moved to stand up, but she groaned in pain, struggling to lift her torso off the ground. Her chest was in quite a bit of pain; it wasn't horrible, but it was frustrating and enough of a sting to make it painful to move. The purple dragon beside Cynder quickly wrapped a wing around her and helped her to her feet.

She barely muttered a thanks before she began to step down from the arena and made her way towards the door. Muras followed her, holding her with his wing to keep her balanced.

On the way back to Cynder's house, they walked past Pyron and Freeze. The siblings caught sight of her hobbling alongside Muras, and instantly knew something was up. Pyron was pretty vocal about it, stepping forward and trying to pull Cynder away from the purple dragon.

"What have you done to her?! Get away from her!" the red dragon shouted.

"I didn't do anything to her!" Muras exclaimed.

"Pyron, I'm fine; let me go!" Cynder snapped.

The fire dragon ignored her, continuing to try and pry her from Muras' grasp. Freeze ran up to her foster brother and grabbed him, trying to pull him back. The scuffle lasted for a few more seconds before Freeze finally pulled Pyron away, and Cynder fell slightly back into Muras' grasp.

"Why is he here? Why are you limping?" Pyron demanded. "What did he do to you?"

"He did nothing," Cynder growled. "In fact, he's trying to help me, thank you very much."

Pyron blew smoke out of his nose. "I don't trust that purple devil."

"Pyron, I don't trust him either," Freeze whispered. "But this is no time to make a scene of anything."

"Look, I'm terribly sorry if you don't trust me," Muras murmured nervously. "If… if there's anything I can do to help gain your trust, let me know."

"Leave," Pyron spat.

"That's not happening," Cynder deadpanned. "We need him."

"For what? To overthrow Spyro? What'll he do next, take back his title as the Dark Master now that he has no competition?"

"Do you really think he would do that? Does it look like he would do that?"

"Uhh… not really; he looks much purer and… innocent," Freeze murmured.

"So did Spyro, and look where we are now," Pyron snarled.

"I don't care what you think of him," Cynder snapped. "He's staying, and he's helping me back to my place."

"Wh-what?!"

"You heard me, now let's get moving."

"I'm coming with you!"

"Pyron, what?" Freeze exclaimed. "Why?!"

"You are not," Cynder stated firmly.

"If it makes him shut up, let him," Muras said softly.

"He won't have to shut up if he's not with us, now let's go," Cynder snapped, taking a step forward and forcing Muras to follow.

"You still didn't tell me what happened!" Pyron urged.

"It's apparently my fault, not his!" Cynder called.

"You're just saying that!"

"He wasn't even there when it happened, now leave me alone!"

Cynder and Muras walked back to her house in silence, feeling slightly uncomfortable about the scene they had just been involved in. Even after they got out of the scuffle, the air around them was still uncomfortable. Many eyes were cast their way: judging, scared, nervous, concerned. Not only was the purple dragon walking down the streets, but wrapped in his wing was a limping Cynder.

They arrived at Cynder's house and Muras helped her in, sitting her down on her couch. "Are you alright now?" he asked.

"Yeah, I think I can manage now. Thank you," Cynder replied.

"You're welcome. Glad I could help."

"Also, I just want to say… I'm sorry for what happened back there with Pyron and Freeze."

"It's fine. I know not many people trust me. Nobody will trust me for a good long while. I'm aware of that and I expect that. I know people will be mean and scared around me."

"You were just trying to help me, and Pyron was extremely rude about it."

"I don't blame him. I ruined everybody's lives. I saw how he was when Spyro revealed my true identity; he hated me. Absolutely despised me. I don't know what the story is there with him and… I don't know, his girlfriend or something?"

"Sister; foster sister."

"Alright, thanks. But yeah I just… I really don't blame him, you know? If I was in his paws I'd probably do the same thing."

"Doesn't explain why he was fighting over me or anything."

"I think maybe… You know what, never mind."

"What?"

"It's a stupid thought."

"Oh."

"But I'm guessing you two are friends, right? He was probably just trying to protect you."

Cynder just huffed with a shrug. There was a slight silence, before Muras cleared his throat, stepping backwards. "I think I might leave you be now," he said, before turning and walking out the door.

The dragoness didn't respond, instead reaching out and grabbing a book from the small table beside the couch and continuing to read it. Muras wasn't surprised she was a little moody, so he tried not to think too much on it.

He began to make his own way home, feeling incredibly vulnerable now that he was by himself. He was rarely out in the open, but when he was, it was an incredibly uncomfortable experience. All eyes turned to him when he walked past, scrutinising him intensely, as many paws scrambled to get away from him. Muras felt so isolated.

The purple dragon sighed, lowering his head and staring at his paws as he walked slowly back to the Temple. Of course this stopped him from seeing Pyron run up to him from the side, and Muras only realised the fire dragon was there when he was punched across the jaw.

Muras fell to the ground, coughing and clutching his jaw with pain. He looked up and saw the fire dragon raise his fist for another punch, before Freeze ran up behind him and pulled him back. "Pyron, what are you doing?!" Freeze screamed.

"What do you think I'm doing?!" Pyron snapped.

"You can't beat up a dragon!"

"IT'S MALEFOR!"

"PYRON, LOOK AT ME!" Freeze ordered, the firmness in her voice shocking Pyron as she had never spoken so firm and demanding in her life. "I know you don't trust him, and to be honest I don't either, but you still can't just beat him up like that!"

"Why not?"

"Because… I don't know, he seems too innocent. Like I said earlier."

"Innocent? This is Malefor, Freeze! The dragon who almost destroyed the world! The dragon who I think killed your parents!"

"You don't know that; they disappeared, but I have no idea if they were even killed or not!"

"You can't deny it as a possibility! And I don't care if he looks innocent! It could be a façade just to lure us into a trap, to get us into a false sense of security!"

"I'm sorry, Pyron, but I don't see that. Even as a fire dragon, I've never seen Malefor—Muras—whatever his name is now—do anything with ill or harmful intent. I've only ever seen him as genuine and kind, shy and nervous, and honestly, at least from what I've seen, I don't think it's faked. Given his current circumstances I don't blame him for being shy and nervous."

Muras blinked. He wasn't expecting that from Freeze. He wasn't expecting that from anyone, really. He murmured a small 'thank you' but he had no idea if Freeze heard him, due to her lack of acknowledgement.

"Are you asking me to give that lizard a chance?" Pyron snarled.

"Not necessarily. I'm just asking you not to beat him up."

"Fine," the red dragon snapped, before turning his gaze to Muras and pointing at him accusingly. "Don't think this means I trust you, you worm. Don't do anything you'll regret."

With that, Pyron stormed off. Freeze stood there with a sad sigh, before she moved to help Muras up.

"You didn't have to do any of that," Muras murmured.

"It's fine. I apologise for my brother; he can be rather hot headed. I don't really like violence either, so… yeah I just… didn't want anyone to get hurt," Freeze replied, stepping back and looking away, unable to hold Muras' gaze.

"I understand. Thank you. I don't know what I can do to get you to trust me more but I'll try my best to be as trustworthy as I can."

"Alright, well good luck for that. Anyway I should go find my brother."

"Before you go, tell him Cynder's safe and okay. He seemed pretty worried about her."

"Yeah I noticed," Freeze said, before she turned and left.

Muras stood there, watching her leave, before he turned and continued his way home. He continued to shrink in on himself under everyone's stares, but he felt better knowing there was possibly someone else who could start to trust him down the track.

Here's another chapter for a Christmas gift lol; I hope you all liked this and I hope you all have a very merry Christmas!

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Derick Lindsey: Hello again! And thanks; I'm recovering pretty alright. As for Kassaan, she actually awoke from her coma in Chapter 43, but she's been unable to get out and see anyone until now; she was in pretty critical condition considering the amount of damage that had been done to her (resulting in her being mute and lame). And yeah I was really happy with the whole Hunter looking up to Cynder thing; I think it works really well.

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Anyway, that's it for now; I'll see you all next year with Chapter 50! Thank you all so much for the support and I'm glad you've all been loving this story.