The first thing Spyro was aware of as he woke was a soft stroking sensation on his side. He assumed it was Cynder, he could feel the rest of her body now, and he was lying against her. He opened his eyes, it appeared to be morning.
"Did I miss the whole night?" He asked. The gentle stroking paused.
"Yes, you were a bit out of it."
"You hit me, a lot."
"That's the point of sparring." Cynder said; he sensed that she was smiling.
"True. How about we make it best out of five?"
"Why, because you just realised that I still won?"
"That would be why. Yes… that would be exactly why."
Spyro raised his head and looked around to Cynder. She rested her paws on his shoulder and was gently licking at his scales.
"You really are an amazing fighter." Spyro said.
"Thanks, you're not bad yourself." Cynder smiled. "I hadn't realised how much the earth element was capable of outside of an earth boulder and earth shots."
"I think that earth is often underestimated. It's a powerful element."
Cynder detached herself from Spyro and stood up. She looked at the morning sky; the weather was nice for flying.
"We should get going." Spyro said.
"Yes. We'll do breakfast on the way." Cynder said.
"Mmm, breakfast."
There was no breakfast, much to Spyro's disappointment. The two dragons flew low, hoping to come across a nice fat sheep or some other consumable. The forest offered them nothing in the way of food.
Early in the afternoon the dragons came across a second, deeper and wider river. Berries were growing in the thorny bushes along its bank so Spyro and Cynder picked and ate those. They were nice tasting, if a bit sour, but there weren't enough for a meal.
Cynder spotted fish in the river, she pointed them out to Spyro and the two dragons dove in to catch themselves some food.
The water was uncomfortably cold to Cynder. She didn't stay down for long but she was able to catch herself a small silvery fish.
Spyro stayed under the water for easily five minutes, Cynder watched his purple form track back and forth across the bottom of the river. Eventually he rose to the surface, gasping in air. He had a large reddish brown coloured fish hanging out of the corner of his mouth.
"I got you these." He said, his voice was muffled by the fish in his jaws. He held up two more fat fish and shook the reddish one slightly. He swam over and clambered out of the river; Cynder took the one from his mouth with gratitude and ate it, Spyro offered her the other two.
"You can have them." Cynder said. Spyro shook his head.
"I ate four already." He told her.
"You're pretty good at catching fish." Cynder complimented him. She ate the other fish happily; Cynder wasn't one to turn down free food.
Beyond the river Spyro and Cynder got their first view of the distant mountains that the Catacombs lay below.
"More mountains" Spyro said happily.
"These ones are much nicer, and warmer." Cynder told him.
It was dusk by the time they reached the base of Twilight Falls, where the passage to the Catacombs that they had used years ago lay.
They had gotten a bit lost, but they had come across an utterly beautiful waterfall while they'd flown around looking for the way in.
Spyro could see why Cynder had mentioned these mountains in particular when she'd talked about her fondness for mountains. There were fireflies and clouds of smoky water vapour, the air smelled of the water and trees and it was a wonderful place to fly.
They flew up the waterfall and perched at the mouth of the cave.
"It's smaller then I remember." Spyro said.
"We've grown a lot." Cynder said.
"It'll probably be a trap." Spyro said. "Somewhere in there."
"Good, let's go spring it." Cynder smiled.
It was a tight place to fly, Cynder managed without much difficulty as she was a wind dragon but Spyro had trouble flying down the cave, not being quite able to flap his wings.
Eventually they came across a stone passage and the two dragons turned off the cave and went down it. They walked for a few minutes until they reached The Catacombs.
The rubble that had blocked the entrance when The Golem had attacked them here had been pushed aside. Clearly someone had been here; Spyro and Cynder advanced cautiously but encountered nothing but stone and emptiness.
The two dragons entered a platform, on either side of them the massive cave extended into the distance as far as they could see. The ceiling was high above them and Cynder and Spyro knew that their platform was something of a bridge crossing over an equally distant cavern floor.
"This place is big." Spyro said in amazement.
"You know stuff about caves, what do you think of this one?" Cynder asked, interested to hear Spyro's thoughts.
Spyro went to the edge of the platform and looked down, Cynder joined him, these caves were way bigger then she remembered. The ruins of a massive city clung to one single wall of the cave, this was where the dragons stood and the sheer size of the space before them was simply awesome.
"It's big." Spyro said.
"I'm sure Terrador would be proud of you. I can see that it's big, Spyro." Cynder smiled.
"Well it's a limestone cave, but limestone is formed from the ancient seafloor. Basically as the earth moves around when seafloor rises onto dry land limestone is created. This cave isn't possible though."
"Why not? Seems reasonable to me." Cynder said.
"Because look at the size of this place, look at the stalagmites and stalactites out there, they're massive. This is no normal cave."
"I like it more than the ice cave; I can fly around in here." Cynder commented.
The purple and black dragons turned their backs on the vast space and entered the ruined city. Immediately they took a left and found themselves looking down at a familiar series of ledges and climbing walls.
"I don't like these things." Spyro grumbled. "We'll need to take that pillar there and jump across to the vines on the left wall. I bet there's going to be a locked door on the far side too."
"Or we could just fly." Cynder suggested.
"Oh yeah. That's a good plan."
Cynder nodded thoughtfully, and then she grabbed a stone and threw it down at the ledges.
"Take that, stupid platforms." She said. Spyro looked at her, puzzled.
"What?"
"That was very satisfying." Cynder told him.
The purple dragon shrugged, Cynder leapt into space and he accompanied her down to the next section of the ruined city.
There was indeed a locked door that barred their way. Spyro looked at it for a long moment.
"I've always wanted to do this."
He lowered his stance and scratched the ground as if he was going to charge the door. Then gathering his power, he lunged forwards at the door with an explosive comet dash attack.
It sounded like a thunderclap, echoing in the huge space. Cynder watched, awed, as the flames wreathed around Spyro and erupted outwards at the door, it was less like fire and more like hot lava, the fire itself actually had weight and mass. She felt the impact tremor through the ground.
The door made a deep crunch and was bent into two crumpled parts, barely maintaining its structure. Spyro made a large earth boulder and rolled into the wreck, pulverising the remains of the door. The sheer amount of power that Spyro now possessed impressed Cynder a great deal.
"That was satisfying too." He grinned.
"Saviour of realms and destroyer of doors. Nothing will stand in our way now." Cynder smiled.
At that exact moment dozens of orcs poured through the door and quickly surrounded the two dragons. Spyro and Cynder stood back to back, watching them come.
The creatures were bipedal and moved heavily hunched over, they were smaller then Spyro and Cynder were, but they did outnumber the dragons. Most of them held large two handed axes; there were also a few of the smaller variants which were armed with crossbows.
The orcs were not living creatures in a normal sense, they were animated by magic, had no brain, no digestive system and only the shallowest mockery of what could be called a heart. They had primitive emotions and basic artificial intelligence designed solely for battle, their numbers and aggressiveness made then unquestionably dangerous and made them perfect soldiers for Malefor's dark army.
Once they might have been an intimidating sight to the dragon couple, but not anymore.
"Cynder?" Spyro couldn't keep the amusement out of his voice.
"Yes Spyro?" She asked playfully.
"They're standing in our way."
"How foolish of them."
The two dragons moved at the same time, Spyro went left, Cynder went up.
The black dragoness created blades of wind on her wings and tail, slashing apart the orcs that came near her. As the orcs tried to attack her she skipped into the air and danced above the heads of her opponents, the wind whirled around her, deflecting the axes and bolts that sought her elusive form. Cynder was never even threatened; the orcs below her were nothing more than an annoyance.
Spyro took a different approach to the problem; he fired ice spikes at the first of his enemies then as they closed in he lashed out, knocking them back. He grabbed one of the orcs and swung it around him, using its body to bash the others. Once he and Cynder had been too small to do this to anything bigger than a grublin, but they had broth grown a lot since then. Spyro bit down on the Orc and crushed it in his jaws.
Seeing that Cynder had taken to the air Spyro hopped back for a moment's respite and charged up an earth shot. As the orcs got close he released the attack, obliterating the creatures nearest to him and knocking most of the crowd to the ground. Cynder was the only other one unaffected as the shockwave shook the entire platform dangerously.
Spyro stood up, looking around at the remaining orcs, he jumped into the air.
Spyro curled up into a ball. Cynder realised what he was about to do and used the wind to throw herself to the full extent of their chain as Spyro unleashed a lightning sphere.
Cynder watched the remaining orcs fry, even at almost two hundred meters away she could feel the power humming in the air, standing too close to that attack would be very painful indeed.
Spyro uncurled and the electricity flickered out of existence, Cynder flew back to Spyro's side and touched down gently beside him.
Neither dragon was even out of breath.
"You should warn me before using an area of effect attack next time, I could have gotten zapped." Cynder said.
"Oh, sorry. I haven't fought with a partner in a while." He said.
"We should work on our teamwork, partner." Cynder said with a smile. Spyro nodded.
"That sounds like a good idea." He agreed.
The two dragons walked into the next room, a pair of winged grublins were sitting on the floor. They saw the dragons and fled for the far door. Spyro fired an ice spike and one of the creatures fell to the ground but the other escaped.
"We'll get reinforcements coming now." Cynder said.
"On the contrary we'll get target practice now." Spyro said with a smile.
The two dragons took up position at the door the grublins had left from, there was a corridor beyond that the enemies had to come through to reach them.
"I want to go first." Spyro said.
"All right." Cynder said.
Four orcs entered the corridor; Spyro stood in the centre to meet them and waited. As they charged at him he took a deep breath and filled the whole corridor with a massive firestorm.
Cynder sighed as the heat washed over her; the roiling flames were funnelled by the walls and crashed back upon themselves in a burning maelstrom.
Unlike the grublins and the Great Orcs the intermediate sized creatures that made up most of the Dark Armies were always silent, they didn't even have mouths. They made no sound as they were incinerated by Spyro's fire.
"Powerful, but wasteful." Cynder commented.
Spyro breathed in and the fire responded, folding itself around and spinning into the shape he wanted. Cynder watched as Spyro used his fire to create a rose of beautiful twisted fire; the fiery flower burned hot blue and then shrank into a single point before disappearing.
Spyro breathed out again, relaxing.
"I was showing off." he told Cynder.
"Oh please, showing off is about more than scale, it takes style. The flower was a nice touch though."
"Well you certainly do have style. The next lot is yours." Spyro said.
"I'm not waiting here." Cynder replied. "Let's go."
She walked down the corridor; it was in the next room that the rest of the reinforcements were waiting.
The two dragons found themselves on a raised entrance, there was a large rectangular room below them and the exit door was on the far side.
There were no less than thirty orcs in the room, along with a few grublins and a great orc. The great orc waved its spiked club at the dragons and roared something neither of them could understand, beating its heavy shield on the ground for emphasis. The rest of its troops clearly could understand what it had said; they all rushed towards Spyro and Cynder.
"Allow me." Cynder smiled.
She stepped off the edge and landed lightly on the floor. The enemies hesitated. Cynder turned on her sexy walk and began to sashay straight towards the Great orc. The huge creature came forwards and swung its club down on her.
Cynder turned to smoke just before the impact; the club went right through her and cracked the floor. Despite the black cloud being too small for Cynder to dodge out of its way she was not hit. The creature grunted and lifted its club to swing again.
Spyro couldn't help but find Cynder's shadow element erotic, he loved watching her use it, the sexy walk helped too. He decided he must have a shadow fetish of some sort. It really was beautiful, such a gentle seeming power, but certainly not one to be underestimated.
The ethereal shape of Cynder kept walking, straight through the Great Orc without even glancing at it. The creature turned around to try another attack.
Cynder's shadow spread smoky wings and veiled the room with blackness.
Spyro was mesmerised as he watched the darkness slowly drift across the room in Cynder's wake, it coiled and turned below him, there was only silence down there.
He sat and watched the dark clouds, unable to see through them. It was only a few seconds that he was waiting, then the shadows began to fade, to drift away and reveal what Cynder could do.
Every single thing on the floor lay still where it had previously stood, totally unmarked. There hadn't even been a fight.
Cynder herself had almost reached the far door, still walking as if she hadn't even noticed the orcs and grublins that now decorated the floor around her. She reached the far door and paused, or possibly she posed, she did both really, casually looking back at Spyro.
"We're done here." She said.
"Wow."
"That's the correct response." Cynder smiled.
Spyro flew across the room to join Cynder.
"How did you do that?" He asked.
"Shadow and poison." Cynder said simply.
"So your shadow element can make you intangible, completely untouchable?"
"Yes, but I can still touch things around me and use my elements. The downside is that it drains my mana very quickly."
"Your powers are so brilliant." Spyro said. "What about fear?"
"I avoid using that one." Cynder said.
"Why?" Spyro asked curiously.
"Because it's easy. It's easy to use, it's addictive. It's powerful, the most powerful of my elements by far, but it's a power that I can't control, all my strongest fear abilities automatically target enemies, but I can't control who they target or even what exactly they'll do to the one they hit."
"Sounds dangerous."
"It's fear. Of course it's dangerous." Cynder said. "But I can do some things with control, I can use phantom fright, siren screams and I can influence the emotions of others just by being in contact with them."
"Cool."
The two dragons heard distant sounds from further within the catacombs; they looked at each other for a moment.
"Your turn." Cynder said.
Spyro walked towards the sound, they reached another open part of the city. Cynder had somehow forgotten how enormous The Catacombs were, but one look was enough to remind her.
There were more orcs on a suspended platform below them, Spyro and Cynder watched them for a moment but the creatures didn't notice the two dragons.
"You know Seizo gave me a book on interior decoration." Spyro said.
"Oh?" Cynder tilted her head, intrigued.
"I don't pretend to be an expert, but I really think that wall over there would look better on the cave floor." Spyro nodded at the wall. Cynder considered it.
"You might be right." She agreed.
"Okay then." Spyro pressed his paws against the ground and waited there for a moment. Then he shook his head and took two steps back and a step to the left before putting his paws back to the ground. "Here." He said, and then he raised a paw and punched the floor hard.
A sort of shiver ran through the stone, there was a moment when nothing happened and then the entire wall Spyro had indicated gave way and fell on the platform the orcs were standing on.
When the dust settled Cynder looked down.
"It does look better now." She said happily. "It's got a more authentic feel."
"Seismic redecoration, stylish and effective."
"Very impressive, are you finished showing off?"
Spyro and Cynder looked around, a dragon stood on a ledge above them.
Cynder frowned at the silhouetted figure. It wasn't Malefor, that was clear, but then who was it? The dragon walked forwards, revealing himself to be a light blue colour, about the same shade as Cyril.
"Spyro and Cynder, You've kept us waiting."
"Who are you?" Spyro asked.
"My name is Gracious, but I'm sure you won't know me." The dragon said, he leapt off his platform and landed lightly in front of the two dragons.
"Where's Malefor?" Spyro asked. The dragon smiled.
"He is no longer here. There are many things which require his attention."
"So this is a trap?"
"Of course it is." Gracious turned and began to walk away.
Spyro and Cynder shared a look.
"And? Where's the trap?"
"Follow me."
"Why tell us there's a trap before we're even in it?" Spyro asked.
"Because I have no doubt you'll follow me anyway." Gracious said, he chose a corridor and walked down it.
Spyro and Cynder shared another look, and then Cynder shrugged.
"Let's go then." She said.
"We're terrible." Spyro said. He tucked his wing over Cynder as they followed Gracious down the corridor. She rubbed herself against his side.
Cynder stopped after they had gone a short distance; suddenly recalling that she did know the name Gracious.
"I do know you." She said.
The ice dragon looked back, frowning slightly.
"And I know your brother is the one in the corridor behind us."
Spyro turned around and spotted the second dragon that Cynder had sensed with her wind.
"You were guards at Darkmire's tomb. The two we couldn't find." Cynder finished. "Gracious and Seth."
"Well done. Did you go to Darkmire's tomb then?"
"Yes we did." Spyro said, realising that Cynder was right. "You were the captain of the guard there; do you know what happened to your command?"
"I know exactly what happened to my command. It was unfortunate but necessary."
"Dragons died there. Your prisoners escaped." Spyro said.
"I said I knew. Some sacrifices had to be made." Gracious stalked down the corridor, Spyro and Cynder followed.
They emerged in a very familiar room.
The walls were huge stands, filled with orcs and grublins, hundreds of the creatures. These stands were built around a chasm, there was no way to tell how deep it was, but the glow of heat down there suggested it was filled with magma.
Isolated in the middle of this fiery arena was a square stage.
This stage had been modified, Cynder remembered a large pillar had fallen on it, that was now gone. The pattern on the floor had also been removed, but poorly, and a crude network of slashes and cuts had taken its place.
Cynder found this place reminded her of the colosseum in Warfang, how many creatures from how many races would have met their end in this room? It was clearly made for fighting, a place meant to hold a massive crowd of bloodthirsty spectators. What sort of civilization had once lived here? The moles? The apes? The dragons? She didn't know.
This was where Spyro and Cynder had reawakened after everything had turned to chaos at The Well of Souls. It had been a painful wakeup call, suddenly being forced to fight for their lives against first grublins and then a giant monster.
Gracious flew across the arena and took position on a high podium, this podium was also new. He looked back at the two dragons and they flew to the arena platform.
"Well you've got us right where you wanted us." Spyro said. "But I'd like to know why you're working for Malefor. What's in it for you?"
Gracious was silent for a moment, his brother Seth closed and locked the door that the dragons had come through before joining Spyro and Cynder on the platform.
"I admire your courage Spyro; I'll give you your answer."
Gracious swept his wings and the crowds around them fell silent.
"A century ago the ice and the fire dragons were at war, I would have been your age and my brother was just barely more than a hatchling. The war had dragged on for over a hundred years with no clear advantage to either side, then that all changed. A fire dragon began to rise within his society, constantly defeating us in raids and skirmishes. He was a master tactician, a deadly fighter and completely devoid of mercy.
"His name became feared among our kind, some of the older drakes scared my brother with stories about him, his name was Magmar and he was known as the bloodfire dragon."
"Magmar." Seth spat, he circled around Spyro and Cynder, looking up at Gracious as if waiting for a command to attack. Gracious shook his head to his brother.
"In minor fights the ice dragons lost again and again to this demon, so they chose to destroy him in a major decisive battle. Magmar had been waiting for that, in one stroke he broke the spirit of our kind and raised himself to lordship over his own. None of the dragons or the wolves sent against him survived, not a single one came back, and both of our parents were among the dead. He was legendary for his brutality, his ability and his willingness to go beyond winning, to crush his enemies so completely that they would never rise to confront him again. Every dragon of fighting age he came across he would destroy immediately and without hesitation. I was one of those.
"We were waiting with the other dragons and wolves for our parents to return, but instead he came. He slaughtered everyone, leaving only those to weak or too young to fight still alive. He would have killed me too, but… I was comforting my brother… he was crying and I couldn't leave him." Gracious spoke softly, lost in memories.
"It was about sending a message." Seth hissed.
"That's what Magmar said, he told me to go and warn the other dragons what would become of those who challenged him, and then he was gone."
"You aren't the only ones who have tragic childhoods." Cynder said.
"We do seem to have something in common, yes." Gracious said.
"We should make this a group therapy session." Spyro joked. Cynder found it funny, but the two ice dragons apparently didn't.
"Magmar spared us, but his underlings did not, we were captured and enslaved. For twenty years we served the fire dragons, it was mere luck that neither of us was killed and we were not separated. We began to pray, to The Ancestors, to luck, to fate, to any kindness the world had left for us."
"There was no kindness in the world." Seth said.
"No there wasn't. The Ancestors did not listen, luck and fate abandoned us. Finally we prayed to Malefor, and he answered us! He came to us in our dreams, giving us comfort, sympathy, offering us our freedom. One day our paths crossed that of Magmar again, he recognised us somehow, we were so starved and broken I don't know how he did so, but when he did he simply freed us, without explanation, without apology, he just let us go."
Seth nodded. "Malefor saved us, it was him! He taught us, guided us to safety, and gave us a new life back among our own kind. He is a god, a better god then the ones we once worshiped."
"And he never asked anything in return." Gracious said. "But we could help him, and we wanted to. He told us about himself, told us his plan and asked if we wished to aid him, and he also offered us vengeance, justice."
"The Dark Master taught me too, it was not a pleasant existence." Cynder said.
"Don't you get it yet? Malefor is not the Dark Master; the Dark Master is merely his evil shadow, a twisted vile corruption of the true Purple Dragon. Malefor chose to seal himself in Convexity; you really thought the four Guardians were capable of such a thing? He did it to himself to keep his dark side in check."
"I find that hard to believe." Spyro said.
"Surely you can understand a split personality? Your own Dark Spyro is no different. It's the destiny of the Purple and Black dragons to destroy the world; you all face the same doom."
"I don't have a dark side, I have a bad side, and you two coming close to getting on it." Cynder said.
"Malefor is fair to those who aid him, he told us his whole plan and it was perfect. When a purple and a black egg together were laid in the year of the dragon Malefor knew the time had come. His pet monster Gaul was sent to get the black egg, while Malefor meant for the purple egg to be raised by Ignitus."
"You mean what happened at the dragon temple was arranged?" Spyro asked.
"That the innocent eggs had to die grieved Malefor a great deal, it was our task, the task of Malefor's most trusted servants, to arrange the night raid on the temple. However at the same time the Dark Master gave specific orders that every egg but one were to be destroyed. We needed the black and purple eggs, yours, to survive and that was ensured, but at the cost of the other eggs."
"It couldn't be possible to control something like that." Spyro said.
"True, Malefor had not expected you to be raised by dragonflies during your childhood, but his plan was easily adapted once you were reunited with Ignitus. Until then the Dark Master controlled Cynder's own dark side and Malefor stopped Cynder from capturing Ignitus until the two of you were ready to battle in Convexity.
"You see Convexity was the perfect battleground, while you were there Cynder could be contained if she defeated you and you were close enough to Malefor's prison for him to exert some influence over the battle, to help you win. At the very end of your fight Malefor allowed Cynder's true dark side to be free and you crushed it as spectacularly as you had crushed her controlled form."
"You can't tell me Malefor planned that, it was nuts." Spyro said.
"Actually that's not impossible." Cynder said cautiously. "If I did have a dark side and Malefor wanted to get rid of me it was the perfect way to do so."
"Oh no, it was much better than that. Malefor wanted Spyro to save you. And he did, the two of you were meant to. After that Malefor had no more need of the ape king Gaul, so he arranged his death too."
"But how could he have known we'd kill Gaul?" Spyro said in shock.
"Malefor is a god, his genius is unrivalled. But you were never meant nor expected to kill Gaul, that task was given to the two of us, and you cheated us out of it."
"Forgive and forget." Seth said.
"We bear you no ill will for that, but I would have enjoyed ending that miserable excuse for a life myself."
"So you serve the guy who constantly arranges for his generals to lose?" Spyro laughed.
"Gaul was a monster. Just like the lightning dragon Thoran. They met the ends they deserved, justice."
"So why did you release Thoran? He killed your guard."
"So we could put him down like the feral wolf he is. He knew not that he was going to a carefully arranged trap. I can assure you that one way or another Thoran is lying dead right now, and the world is a better place because he has left it. You need not fear him anymore. That's what Malefor truly wants, to make this world a better place, one monster at a time. The next monster to meet his end will be the fire king, Magmar, but that's getting ahead of our little story."
"I suppose you're going to say Malefor planned for us to be trapped in crystal too?" Spyro asked.
"No. Not at all, that was nearly disastrous for this world, it was three years before he could have you freed." Gracious saw the disbelief on Spyro's face and laughed. "Oh yes he freed you, wouldn't it have been easier for the Dark Master to leave you trapped until the world's ending? Of course it would be, but Malefor needed you to stop him. He had you chained together, a stroke of genius, to be sure you did not face the Dark Master without help, and he himself used his power to weaken the dragon you fought. It was three against one, and you two and Malefor survived while the Dark Master met his end, freeing the purple dragon at last from his accursed destiny."
"You sound pretty sure, but I can't recall you being present at any of these events." Spyro said.
"No, we were preparing for the endgame. The endgame is happening now, just in case you've missed that. Malefor ensured we would recover his physical remains and keep them safe at Darkmire's tomb; I became captain of the guard there for this reason alone. His servant waited in Warfang, knowing that the crystal containing the energy of Malefor's spirit would be brought there. Once all was in place Malefor could be returned to his true glory. It was arranged that you two would be re-chained and sent here. Now the final obstacle to Malefor's perfection, Dark Spyro, is within our grasp."
"You've been outplayed." Seth laughed.
"Neat. Very neat. I'm not sure I believe it but thanks for that. We were trying to figure out what Malefor was up to and you've saved us some time by just telling us straight up." Spyro smiled. "But you still haven't said why you two personally are doing this. Oh, and if you could just quickly name this servant in Warfang that would be appreciated too."
"Is this bravery or arrogance?" Gracious asked.
"I can do both." Spyro replied.
"You do seem to live up to your legend. It's amusing that Malefor planned your entwined stories so completely. I'd almost be afraid that we didn't bring enough firepower to take you two down but… well… we did."
Gracious gestured to the stands filled with orcs; the two dragons were outnumbered by easily a hundred to one. In fact the numbers were probably closer to two hundred to one.
"This, this is what serving Malefor has given us, an army! The power we need to take our revenge on the fire dragons, the power to end the reign of the monster. You think this is all we have? We have much more than this, tens of thousands of orcs. Enough to crush Magmar to dust and the entire city of Shattershelf along with him!"
"Okay, that's actually a fair deal." Cynder said thoughtfully.
"The purple dragon is a god. We have done what he asked of us and he has rewarded us." Gracious laughed.
Spyro gave a weary sigh and looked at Cynder with amusement.
"You know I'm a purple dragon too, but do I get loyal worshippers and armies of servants? Ooh nooo, not Spyro, he gets a golden dragonfly and a gaggle of adoring dragonesses."
Cynder laughed, and then she pressed herself close to Spyro, running her tail over his side, and licked his cheek.
"Adoring dragonesses can have their uses." She whispered sultrily to him.
"Uhh…"
Cynder laughed at Spyro's reaction and returned her attention to the situation at hand.
"Seth, do you want to deal with this alone?" Gracious asked.
His brother nodded eagerly.
"Very well, but be cautious, these dragons are powerful despite their youth." He half turned, and then he looked back at Spyro and Cynder. "I apologise for this. Really I am sorry."
Gracious vanished from his podium leaving Spyro and Cynder alone with the prowling ice dragon and several hundred bloodthirsty beasts.
"This is going to be fun."
"I swear I was just about to say that."
"All ideas deserve a chance."