Wow, it's been too long. I wish I'd been able to post more regularly. I haven't been idle, though, in fact I have something for you.

It's a digital art drawing of Flare, I've spent months working on her, and I think it's my best drawing yet. The drawing will be up on my DeviantArt account either when this chapter is posted or shortly afterwards.

I confess: I'm not a greatly talented artist. But I am a stubborn one, and no matter how long it takes I'll create something.

My DeviantArt account is 'Always4Dragons' and thus far I've done pictures of Spyro, Imperia, and Flare. I hope you like it.

Anyway I'm a writer more than an artist, so I won't chatter for any longer about things that aren't writing.

Story now:

"You see, this is why relationships between the guardians are an extremely poor idea. Volteer and Flare making eyes at each other while they had the position was bad enough. But then along comes Imperia, and she's just unstable, causing chaos, no reasonable sense of dignity whatsoever, not only does she betray us all, only to then go on and become a triple crosser too for the sake of Cynder, but then she goes and gets herself killed!"

Cyril was lecturing the unfortunate lightning dragon he had paired up with. The two of them had been searching the castle for nearly half an hour now, and Cyril had been putting together a rant in his head that desperately needed someone to listen to it.

Ordinarily he'd unload these pent up barrages of distilled pompousness on dragons who actually wanted to hear them, but this time he had only one target.

The electric dragon, whose name was Dash, had never done anything to deserve such a lecture, and he'd never wanted one. But unfortunately he was stuck with the higher ranking dragon at least until they'd found something interesting or finished searching the upper floors of Cynder's Fortress.

"Volteer, Imperia and Flare completely out of commission, all due to the death of one individual. More than half of the guardians gone the moment one dragon becomes a loose cannon! Not that I'm surprised. She always was this way, right from the beginning."

Dash rolled his eyes, he'd admired Imperia from a distance for her personality and her success in reaching high rank, and he looked up to Volteer, his fellow electric dragon. Cyril's tirade wasn't especially impressing him.

"The position of guardian shouldn't be played around with, Volteer and Flare made enough trouble without her in the mix as well. While she wasn't officially a guardian her behaviour was merely a problem, but once she got the position it simply became ridiculous! There are expectations that a guardian has to live up to, it's not only about elemental skill; it's about who you are, and if you have the ability and temperament for leadership. Fooling about isn't a trait that any decent guardian should have."

"Well what do you and Volteer do, then?" Dash muttered.

Cyril frowned at him. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Sorry master Cyril." Dash hurriedly said. "I had not meant for you to hear me. I… uh… I was merely stating that your discussions with Volteer have been rumoured to get… uh… Well…"

"Childish." Cyril finished the sentence for him. Dash yelped slightly, that had been the exact word he was too afraid to say, and then Cyril had said it himself.

He nodded hurriedly.

"Indeed." Cyril agreed. "I'm aware of that. I just…" He sighed. "Volteer needs reality to strike him over the head one of these days; if Imperia's death hasn't done it then he'll get hurt again eventually. I'm sure that at times my behaviour has been unbecoming of a dragon of my own nobility; but…" Cyril laughed unexpectedly. "He grates on my nerves. His maddening enthusiasm and generally odd behaviour. Hardly as bad as Imperia was, but then again Volteer has been a guardian for longer and so should have matured already."

Dash kept quiet, not risking making another comment. He'd been lucky that his first muttered note hadn't gotten him a telling off, and he didn't want to put himself in danger like that again. Cyril seemed to be winding down though.

"I suppose that it would be hypocritical of me to hold the actions of those younger three against them. I've done many foolish things in my time, and one thing that cannot be denied is that they've all gotten results despite their questionable methods. Flare arranged the peace treaty with the Old Fire dragons; Volteer has proven himself to be a master theorist and scientist, as wel las being an excellent leader when needed. Imperia has… well… she's Imperia, I can hardly say more about her then that. She may have been odd, and misbehaved, even to the point of being salacious, but she was certainly a capable individual. I have every confidence that I do not disrespect my glorious lineage by saying this: she would have made a truly great ice dragon."

With that Cyril stopped. Dash watched the ice dragon cautiously at first, worried that the lecture would restart at any moment, but then he saw sadness in Cyril's eyes and he realised that in truth the ice dragon was grieving, in his own way. Cyril ranted about all the things that Imperia had done wrong, and all the problems her death had caused, but that didn't mean that he was not also mourning for her.

For a moment Dash felt like he ought to put his wing around Cyril in comfort. But the electric dragon rapidly thought better of doing so. That would definitely get him in trouble.

They walked in silence for some time after Cyril had finished his speech; the only sounds were their breath, and the soft noise of their paws hitting the marble floor.

The two of them wandered down a large corridor and stopped warily when they reached a door at its end. It was a very grand looking door, made of dull red wood with ornate golden handles.

Cyril, confident as ever, stepped forwards. Dash realised with horror that the ice guardian was about to knock. He wanted to give a warning, but he was too late.

Cyril banged his paw against the wood three times, making loud echoing sounds. He then lowered his paw and waited with quiet dignity.

Dash looked around, expecting something disastrous to happen, like spikes in the floor or a trapdoor with a monster behind it. But nothing happened.

It was about ten seconds later that a voice called out to them. Dash had never heard the voice before, but there was only one individual to which it could belong. Its tone was deep and impressive, but there was a grating edge to it that was unsettling.

"What?"

The dragon who had spoken was surely snarling. Nobody would sound that harsh unless they were snarling.

Cyril tilted his head coolly, considering this.

"Well, Dash, it appears that we have found Malefor." He said.

There was a moment's silence. Dash was not brave enough to respond.

Cyril smiled grimly and stood up. "Let's go say hello."

The ice guardian walked to the door, leaving Dash behind him. The electric dragon was paralysed by a combination of admiration for Cyril's bravery, along with terror for the lives of both the ice dragon and himself.

Cyril gave the door a push and it groaned open reluctantly. Dash hurriedly scrambled after Cyril, not wanting to be left behind.

Cyril strode into the room beyond, books lined the walls and a rich purple carpet covered the floor. The room was circular, as dragon architecture often was. There was a huge spiral staircase, leading upwards, in the centre of the room.

Malefor was sitting with his back to them, near the far wall of the room. His golden wings were spread wide but did not fully conceal the unmoving silver shape lying on the table in front of him.

The purple dragon turned his head, looking at them with eyes that were as cold as ice. His voice was edged with emotion, but seemed to be kept under control through force of will.

"I do not want to be disturbed. Cynder is the only dragon who I will allow in here."

Cyril returned Malefor's gaze steadily. "Why do you have Imperia's remains here? The other dragons will want to pay their respects to her."

Malefor laughed without any trace of humour. "I may yet be able to save her. Your presence will not help my concentration. Tell Cynder to come here, if she will. Nobody else is wanted or required. Not even Volteer."

Cyril looked at him with some surprise, taken back by Malefor's dismissal and demand. He was more than a little bit irritated. "I have no reason to do as you say. None of your actions have given me adequate cause to trust you, nor to acknowledge your demands."

The purple dragon growled slightly. "Get out."

Dash looked back and forth between the two dragons. He was intimidated by both of them, but the question was which one was he more scared of disobeying.

The answer, he soon discovered, was Malefor. Dash turned around and walked briskly to the door, he waited just outside it, hoping that Cyril would reach the same decision that he had.

Malefor tilted his head, his voice calmed. "That was a good move, lightning dragon. What's your name?"

Cyril made an outraged sound when Malefor dismissed the ice dragon from his attention; he looked around and saw that Dash had retreated. "We're not going just because you tell us to!" The ice dragon declared. Malefor continued to ignore him.

"My name is D-Dash…"

Malefor gave the lightning dragon a slight smile. "I'm pleased to meet you, Dash. Would you mind asking Cynder to come here? And tell her that I'd like her to come alone."

Dash nodded rapidly, making Cyril huff in indignation. The ice guardian was about to lecture the other dragon, but Dash decided to go and look for Cynder right away. He trotted briskly away, hoping desperately that Cyril would come with him and that praying neither of the two overly scary dragons would get angry.

Cyril took a moment to consider his options, which were limited. He could fight Malefor and lose, he could leave and lose the confrontation, or he could stay firm and try to talk Malefor into letting him get his way.

If he talked then he had at least a chance of winning here, while if he let Malefor order him around then according to his pride he would have lost. Cyril hated losing, but he also had to consider whether or not it was worthwhile trying to argue with Malefor. What did he have to gain, and what did he have to lose?

If he won then he'd get respect, and that was something that Cyril considered extremely important. Malefor was like the worst traits of both Cynder and Imperia, put together, and then armed with an amount of magic that could level entire cities. He was a wildcard in this world, yet another powerful unpredictable element that could cause vast amounts of chaos. Cyril wanted to have power over Malefor; someone needed to be able to tell the purple dragon what to do, and more importantly what not to do. It was not only a matter of principle that Cyril get Malefor's respect, it was also important to the safety of Warfang and the world as a whole.

However if he lost the argument and confrontation then he could end up dead or worse. Malefor had dragon time, and without a doubt he'd be able to kill Cyril using it without ever needing to engage in a fair fight. Should Cyril be lucky enough to get a 'fair' fight where Malefor did not use dragon time he would almost certainly still be killed. And if Malefor didn't kill him then perhaps the purple dragon would simply hurt him a bit before throwing him out of the room. That would be humiliating, and Cyril couldn't stand the thought if being humiliated.

But he could also walk away, saving this confrontation for another time. And perhaps this was in fact the best choice. It was certainly the easiest, the most practical, and it would be the best action for this specific mission. After all, the mission was to search the castle, not to try to talk Malefor into submission. And perhaps leaving Malefor alone at this moment would do more to gain the purple dragon's respect than arguing with him would.

Cyril and Malefor looked at each other silently for several long seconds. Cyril couldn't figure out what was going on behind those gleaming purple eyes. He was unaware that Malefor was trying to read Cyril's personality and finding it more difficult then he usually did with other dragons. Malefor was already tired, both physically and mentally, and the workings of Cyril's mind were not intuitive to him. Cynder and Spyro were easy to understand, and Terrador had been only slightly more of a puzzle. Cyril had pompous arrogance, but also a surprising amount of cunning and dedication to the causes that he chose to support. Malefor was struggling to determine how to manipulate Cyril, the ice guardian's motives were hard to redirect. Should he threaten Cyril? That probably wouldn't work, it would only make him more stubborn. Bribe him? Unlikely, the offer would just offend him. So how was Malefor to persuade him to go? Did he need to actually fight him?

Cyril, fortunately the weary purple dragon, had persuaded himself. The ice dragon sighed. "I do not trust you; still I have decided that this time I shall give you the privacy you request. Know that under no circumstances will I send Cynder here alone, so if she comes then it will be solely her choice. However I will not stop her if she wishes to come."

The ice dragon turned and walked away; Malefor used a slight gust of wind to close the doors after the departing figure, and he then sighed and sat down heavily.

After several seconds Malefor looked back at the bloodied remains of the wind dragoness. It was the detached and analytical part of his mind that allowed him to keep going, the part of his mind that was sure she could be brought back. His emotions were telling him to curl up and try to forget everything.

"Imperia… I really need some of your enthusiasm right now…"

There was no response, and it had been foolish to hope for one.

Cyril returned to the hall where the Warfang dragons had arrived just as Dash was getting into the telling of his tale. Technically the electric dragon should have been giving a report that was concise and practical, but seeing as Terrador, Flare and Cyril had not been around to demand such a report he had told the story in his own fashion. The others had been fascinated to hear Dash describe Malefor, and then Ember chimed in with her own perspective on her meeting with the ancient purple dragon, causing the conversation to get seriously sidetracked.

Cyril walked up and cleared his throat, pleased when the other dragons all immediately ceased their gossiping and stood to attention.

"Where is Volteer?" he asked briskly.

There were several uncomfortable glances from the small group. Eventually the earth dragoness Ivorii spoke up.

"Flare disappeared. Volteer went after her."

"What?" Cyril asked sharply. "Disappeared where?"

"We're not sure…" Ivorii admitted.

Cyril looked incredulous for a moment, and then he looked irritated. "That's not good enough, this is a dangerous situation and it is outrageous for you to allow dragons to wander off alone, not knowing where they're going or how long they expect they shall take."

"Volteer suggested that she'd go outside somewhere to be alone." Ember said helpfully. "And Flare had disappeared before we could do anything. Volteer asked to go alone, and he was only able to guess where Flare had gone." The pink dragoness said. Cyril looked at her and nodded once, reluctantly accepting the explanation.

"I suppose that none of you had any way of making the situation any better, perhaps aside from one of you going with them. Nevertheless I want you all to do your utmost to ensure that such a situation does not occur again."

"Do we go after them?" Ivorii asked nervously.

Cyril tapped his claws, deciding. "No. Our force is already divided enough."

And then he paused as a thought struck him. He glanced around and soon spotted Cynder. The black dragoness was standing behind Ember, removed from the discussion. She had barely reacted to anything that had been said. Ember was taller, and Cynder's lowered stance had hidden her mostly from sight. Cyril looked towards her.

"Cynder, Malefor has asked to see you alone. I would not recommend that you go, I do not trust him."

Cynder looked at him, sensing that he hadn't finished his statement.

"I will not stop you if you choose to go." Cyril forced himself to say.

Cynder nodded once. "Good."

"We went left, took spiral stairs down two floors and then walked until we found a big corridor. He's in a library at the end of that corridor." Dash put in.

Cynder turned and began to walk away. Ember automatically followed her. "I'm coming too."

The black dragoness looked around and shook her head. "I'll be fine on my own, Ember. But thanks for volunteering."

"Then I'll wait outside the door if you want to talk to him alone." Ember said determinedly, but Cynder shook her head.

"No. I'll go alone."

Ember sighed and stopped. "Just be careful."

"I will be." Cynder said, and then she walked out of the room.

The mood among the group turned sombre, Cyril stood and watched the doors, nobody spoke for several minutes. Eventually Cyril walked to the doors and gazed out into the storm. "We'll go and get Volteer and Flare if they haven't returned in half an hour."

Dash spoke up nervously. "Do we tell them that Malefor thinks he can bring Imperia back?"

This caused a stir among the rest of the group and the other dragons all looked at each other with a mixture of hope and scepticism.

They all knew Malefor had come back from the dead, but he was evil, or at least intimidating. Friendly, kind, or 'good' people were a lot more likely to stay dead than the bad ones. At least, that's what the stories would say. Ever since the Darkmire dragon it had been a trait of the twisted and the sinister to rise again from a supposed death. Imperia did not fit the pattern.

Cyril looked at Dash with a raised eyebrow. The look clearly indicated Cyril thought the electric dragon had said something stupid.

"Why, may I ask, would we choose to not tell Volteer and Flare that their mate might have a chance at surviving?"

"Well… to not get their hopes up?" Dash said defensively. He thought he'd asked a reasonable question. "To make sure they stay focused without getting distracted or upset by the idea, and to make sure they don't race off to try to find Malefor?"

"All excellent points." Cyril agreed. "And I had no intention of telling them that information for those exact reasons." Cyril was still giving him the 'you idiot' expression.

Dash swallowed nervously. "What did I do?"

"I'm glad you asked. You see, when you have a piece of information like that, which might cause harm if heard by the wrong dragons… how about you wait and ask me about it privately, perhaps?"

"Oh." Dash stood there for a few seconds, then realised he should have smacked his face with his paw, but by the time he thought of that it was too late to do it, so he just had to stand there. "Right…"

Cyril swept a chilly gaze over the other dragons. "All I know is that Malefor claims he might be able to save her. For the reasons Dash stated I am ordering you not to tell anyone of this. The others need to focus on their mission, and I would have preferred that all of you remained unaware as well."

If this offended any of the others then they did not risk letting Cyril see that, but Ember felt strongly enough about the topic to risk speaking up.

"Why didn't you tell Cynder? She needed to know." The pink dragoness looked at Cyril with stubborn defiance.

The ice guardian shrugged. "Perhaps. But it's too late to be concerned about that now. I want you all to focus on the task at hand. That means waiting here, being ready to defend ourselves from attack or go to the aid of any other Warfang dragons. Volteer and Flare will have to look after themselves."

Cynder reached the door that Dash had described in just a few minutes. The other two dragons had needed to search every door on their way, but Cynder glanced only briefly side to side and saw nothing that caught her interest.

She rapped on the door three times, the sharp sounds echoing to her sensitive hearing. Only a moment later Malefor called out from inside.

"Who is it?"

Malefor's voice sounded different to how it had before, it was strained, not nearly as smooth and collected. Cynder opened her mouth to respond, but then paused. She hadn't spoken a single word since telling the others what had happened to Imperia, and suddenly she didn't quite trust her voice.

The door opened and Malefor looked out. "Ah, Cynder. I'm glad that you've come. Won't you come inside?" He stepped out of her path so she could walk through the door.

Cynder did so, giving Malefor a cursory observation as she walked past him. His appearance reflected his voice, he looked strained and tired. She was going to talk, but then she noticed the still form of a dragon lying on a nearby table.

Cynder walked slowly up to Imperia's remains, her eyes blurring again with tears. The silver dragoness looked peaceful and beautiful, with a slight smile on her face still. There was an ugly wound in her belly, and blood cracked and dried on her scales, but nothing else was out of place.

As she got closer, however, Imperia's stillness felt wrong. Her body was cold and lifeless, looking at it was sad, it hurt Cynder's throat and gave her a tightness in her chest.

Malefor tilted his head, his curiosity sparked to life by Cynder's actions. Had she not been told that he planned to bring Imperia back? It did appear that way. She thought that Imperia was gone. Malefor had found that thought too painful to contemplate, but to Cynder it was a reality that she hadn't seen any hope of escaping.

"How do you do it?" Malefor asked softly. "How do you cope with this kind of loss?"

Cynder looked back at him, her voice quavered as she replied. "Because I have to."

Malefor nodded. "I understand…"

"I doubt you do." Cynder turned away. "You knew her for a week at most. I can hear her voice every time there is silence around me, and see her smile whenever I close my eyes. She's done so much for me, some things that made me happy, other things that hurt me. She nearly ruined my life, but she was for years the only thing that gave me hope. Do you really think that you understand what I'm feeling?"

Malefor shook his head, growling ever so slightly at Cynder's comment. "I doubt she ever told you, even though she always wanted to. I talked to Imperia every night for over thirty years. I had never met her face to face, it's true, and I never heard her real voice until only a day ago. But to say that I didn't know her is wrong. I knew her very well, and she is precious to me beyond words."

Cynder did not reply, but her expression grew unsure as she considered Malefor's words.

"She wanted to tell you everything, she said so to me many times. Perhaps it would have been easier if she had." Malefor chuckled ever so slightly. "Although I was still rather surprised when she actually did tell you the truth. I had thought she'd at least wait until my plan had succeeded."

"How… How do you cope with it, then?" Cynder said haltingly.

Malefor gazed into her eyes for a moment. He had noticed her eyes were green before, but he had never really looked at them. Cynder's eyes had a fierce and proud gaze, daring the world to challenge her, but there was also a lot of sadness there. Maybe he could help bring warmth back to her emerald eyes.

"Cynder… You remember the purple crystal that I had on a pedestal in the fortress?"

"Of course. You used it to come back to life."

"Technically I used it to avoid dying." Malefor corrected. "It anchors the life force of a dragon, preventing them from leaving this world. Imperia knew how to use it, and when we arrived here to stop Spyro she left us for several minutes."

Cynder looked at him. "Are you trying to tell me that Imperia might be alive?"

"Yes I am." Malefor nodded.

"But… surely only a purple dragon could use the crystal?" Cynder asked warily, unwilling to raise her hopes too far.

"It would have been little use to its creators if that was the case." Malefor said with a faint smile. "I believe that there was only ever a single purple dragon that lived in the world of the Artisans. A great hero, to be sure, but not so special as to have an object like this created solely for his or her use. No, the Magic Crafters designed this crystal so it could be used by any dragon who knew how to operate it."

"Imperia used it?" Cynder asked.

"Yes, I am certain of that." Malefor nodded. He walked past Cynder to the far side of the room and retrieved the crystal from where it had been resting out of the way on a bookshelf. "I retrieved it from where it belongs, it had not been moved, and yet the magic within it no longer bore my signature, meaning another dragon had used it since I did. What remains of Imperia is here."

Cynder couldn't help but giggle ever so slightly at that, but it wasn't a giggle of amusement. The idea of being bound inside a crystal was very unsettling, but in such a way that Cynder felt an urge to laugh. It got worse when Malefor passed the crystal to her. Cynder gazed into its purple surface, it was slightly transparent, she could see through the crystal to make out the faint outline of the paw she was holding it with.

At first the piece of rock didn't look as if it could contain anything of interest, let alone the life of a dragon, but as Cynder looked closely she noticed that the stone was generating its own trace amounts of mana, and that the purple hue of its insides was flickering ever so slightly. The mana was faint but distinct, and it felt like Imperia.

"Take care with that." Malefor said. "It has survived aeons unharmed and unfaded, but if you managed to break it now it would be extremely unfortunate."

"Do you really think I would break it?" Cynder looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

Malefor's mood brightened somewhat as he saw Cynder was slowly recovering her usual confidence and sassiness. "You and Imperia ruined my plan, and my plan was as near to perfect as a plan could have been. I thought it was infallible, and yet…" Malefor hesitated for a moment. Now seemed a poor time to mention Spyro, so he hurriedly changed from his intended sentence. "And yet you still managed to mess it up. I have decided that in all future calculations I shall set no upper limit on your ability to wreck things I thought were unbreakable."

Cynder wasn't sure if that was a compliment or not. She might have taken it as an insult, but Malefor had spoken with a degree of respect.

"It won't be easy designing plans that still function with a potentially infinite variable involved; I'd certainly prefer not to oppose you again."

"Is that meant to be an apology?" Cynder asked.

"No." Malefor said. "It was meant to be a preliminary comment that would eventually lead to a less tense conversation. Which, put simply, means that I'm just trying to be polite. Antagonism between us now serves no purpose. After all we have nothing to fight over, and no reason to distrust each other."

Cynder made a noncommittal sound.

Malefor sighed. "I need to heal Imperia before attempting to bring her back. Healing wounds made in dragons by the Dragonslayer is not easy; it damages not only A dragons body but also our magic, making the damage difficult to heal. It will take time. We can talk while I'm working, don't you think?"

Cynder nodded. "I guess so. But what shall we talk about?"

Malefor laughed slightly. "I usually have an agenda in mind before entering any discussion. But this time I fear I have nothing." The purple dragon moved over to Imperia and hovered a paw over her belly. The wound there glowed slightly purple and the dried blood on her scales was wiped away, however the wound itself didn't change.

Cynder watched what he was doing. She knew nothing about healing, but at least it didn't seem to be making things worse. She decided to just watch and talk to him. "I'm not really one for random conversation either. Although there are exceptions. Imperia is one of the dragons who I find it easy to talk to, and Spyro is another." She laughed to hide how much it had hurt to say the names. "I'm running out of dragons to talk to."

"I was thinking much the same thing." Malefor agreed. "The two of them are among the only dragons I've ever had a casual talk with. The rest of the time it's been about hidden agendas and manipulation. We'd better bring them back, or else we might go mad."

"Yeah…" Cynder nodded thoughtfully, and then she smiled slightly. "It could be a lot worse I guess, we have a chance at least."

"We have many possible chances, although one will be enough if we utilise it properly."

I had a good time writing Cyril in this chapter; but overall I'm not so pleased with how it turned out. Certainly I wish that the first chapter I'd posted in months was better than this one.

Still, maybe I'm being to harsh on myself. What do you think? How could I have improved this chapter, and what did I do well? I'd be grateful for some advice.

Until next time!

-4Dragons