By the end of Cynder's first day under the tutoring of Flare and Spyro she was able to create a flame for several seconds at the time, and if she really focused she could recover quickly from Spyro surrounding her with cold air. It wasn't reliable, maybe one in every three attempts, but it was a definite improvement. Cynder had always hated the weakness which she felt after her body temperature dropped, and it felt amazing to have even a small way to push back against that effect. Maybe she would be able to fly to and from Darkmire's Tomb on her own now, although she had no reason for why she'd ever want to. She hoped to solve this fight and then never go anywhere cold ever again.

Spyro's magic was becoming stronger, quickly recovering back to his normal state. The mana burn he had suffered was a mild case caused by Hope overusing convexity, but it was quickly fading.

Imperia and Malefor's sealing circle was progressing well, Cynder had gone into convexity to examine it several times, and it was quite a sight to behold. A weird nest looking thing of grey stone spikes, circles all over the ground, and runes in the process of being carved into every available inch of space. It looked like a cross between an ancient monument erected by a long forgotten culture, and a wall filled with conspiracy theory notes which bits of string connecting the whole mess in nonsensical ways. But she could also begin to make out the shapes which were being described, the whole thing had a kind of neatness to it, everything was perfectly in place no matter which way you looked at it from.

She even noticed that if you looked at the pillars from different angles and heights that you would see lines matching up to form triangles and circles and hexagons with the pillars in front of and behind them. It was quite a trippy thing to look at.

On the second day Spyro entered convexity with Malefor's help and had a good time blasting his different elements all around, testing to make sure that his powers had returned, which sure enough they had. That done he spent some time performing his usual training regime, shadow sparring, balance exercises, fitness training, and elemental control training. Cynder joined him for it, and she too enjoyed throwing her own magic around freely in a completely open space. Once they were done they tried to return to the normal world without any help from Malefor, but unfortunately they both failed despite spending nearly an hour at the task. At least they were both able to open a partial rift, they just couldn't enhance it enough to step through.

Once they had both given up, panting from effort, they sat together and watched the stars of convexity, silent, hostile, and yet somehow warm against a vibrant purple sky.

Imperia started to put gold on her design, step by step, the glorious creation took shape. She kept detailed notes, even though she didn't know for sure if it would be effective. She wanted this design to last forever, so that perhaps it would be able to help dragons far in the future or on different continents. The design had three purposes:

Firstly it was intended to turn Darkmire's magic against itself, forcing a split between her and Pleasure, and giving them a chance to blast Darkmire away exactly like they had with Hope.

Secondly it was intended to trap Darkmire within the circle, binding her and forcing her to exert a massive amount of power to overload the symbol if she wanted to escape it. The idea was that she would be forced into the same powerless state of magical overuse that Spyro had been after his experience fighting as Hope. This would give them the advantage they needed to take her down for good.

Thirdly it was designed to latch onto a dragon marked with the appropriate completing symbols the moment they entered it's radius. It would be harmless to anyone except it's intended target. These activating symbols became more complex with every iteration of the design, but Imperia seemed confident she could make them work.

It was elegant, complicated and beautiful, with endless backup systems and redundancies. Truly she was putting everything she had into this. It was her way of helping them, knowing that in the battle itself she would just be a liability.

On the third day Pleasure created a little pulse of shadow. The first time she had used magic intentionally, without being in a panic, in perhaps centuries or longer. She was overjoyed, and talked about it endlessly afterwards. Cynder also began to show proper resistance to cold. She could continue to think clearly even once there was frost on her wing blades and Imperia and Pleasure had to retreat to under the blanket. Pleasure may have been an ice dragon deep down, but it hadn't yet shown itself in her abilities at all. And while Imperia was slowly learning the ice element she wasn't yet at the level of cold resistance which Cynder had reached in just a few days practice with fire.

They could all feel the looming necessity of what they had to do. Pleasure had no further episodes, not even when Imperia trimmed her nails and horns. Flare had never even seen a Darkmire takeover, and yet they could all still sense that they didn't have an endless amount of time to prepare for what was to come.

They all good a good night sleep before the fourth day.

Cynder woke up and immediately felt awake, tense and ready for what was to come. She felt surprisingly good, hopping to her feet and stretching, sighing as she arced her back. Flare was already awake, of course, and Spyro wasn't far behind her in waking up. She went with him to go and talk to Malefor and Imperia in the next room, seeing the purple and silver dragons were laying close together, with Imperia tucked under Malefor's wing.

As usual Cynder had no idea what time it actually was, they measured time in sleeps rather than by the cycles of the sun. Imperia still managed to sleep in though. Malefor woke and rose his head, while Imperia just kept snoozing happily.

"How is the magic thingamajiggy looking?" She asked.

"Well the gold has separated from the ink ever so slightly due to exposure to corrosive starlight. I expect that within a decade it will have vaporised completely and the gold dust will have all been blown away."

"A decade?" Cynder asked.

"Yes. It will operate at full capacity for several years, but eventually it will be a temporary measure."

"Will it survive through today? That's what we really need."

"Unlikely. It will probably get blown up before we're even halfway done, but it will at least function for long enough to trap our target."

Imperia yawned and raised her head as she heard conversation, seeing Cynder, Spyro and Malefor and smiling brightly. "Good morning. I hope you guys slept well."

"Surprisingly yes." Malefor nodded. "The symbol is complete, assuming Spyro's recovery and you being prepared I think we are ready to make an attempt."

"Also yes." Spyro agreed. "I slept well and I feel ready to fight. A bit nervous though."

"Same." Cynder nodded.

"So do we jump through and do final checks?" Spyro asked.

Imperia shook her head. "Not quite yet. We should ink up Pleasure now."

"Logical. After that I'll bring the four of us into Convexity, we will check the integrity of the seal, then I will take Imperia back to the material world. After that I will pick up Pleasure and drop her in the symbol."

"Do you have to toss her through?" Cynder asked with an amused snort.

"Gently." Malefor clarified. "Gently push her through the rift."

"And then we find out how good our symbol really is." Imperia murmured.

She hopped to her feet, picking out a paintbrush, her golden ink, and some measuring tape.

"Here's hoping that our dark friend is going to allow me to work on her…"

Pleasure allowed the work to start, Imperia gently using the measuring tape to put guideline dots on Pleasure's scales, then wrapping the measuring tape around her neck and legs, drawing circles and lines.

Pleasure began to giggle uncontrollably starting from the very first blob of paint, the weird sensation of the stuff sticking to her scales was something she had no real understanding of, and it tickled.

She was laughing so hard she could barely breathe by the time Imperia was done. The silver dragoness stepped back with a heavy sigh of relief, glad that Darkmire hadn't put in an appearance. She had told Malefor enough that he could have perhaps done the drawing himself, but she was very glad that she'd been able to do it.

Pleasure was gasping for breath, very shakily standing up, occasionally shaken by giggles and laughs. She stared down at herself, admiring all the gold lines. She raised a hand to touch them, but Cynder quickly caught her paw to stop her.

"Don't touch them. They're not dried yet."

"Oh, right. Sorry." Pleasure nodded, still looking down at them. "They're very pretty."

"So, Pleasure…" Cynder said in her best attempt at a calming voice. "We're about to try and save you. It might be a, uh… bad experience."

Pleasure nodded, not processing the words at first, but then eventually taking them in and looking up nervously. "Oh… Now?" She looked down at the ground. "I don't know if I'm ready…"

"Well if you don't feel ready then we can push it back…" Spyro said. "We can get more ink if we needed, do it some other time." He knew that Imperia could run out of ink, it was expensive stuff and while she did have a lot of it the supply was far from unlimited. They had also used a huge amount of it on the stonework of the symbol already.

Pleasure closed her eyes and breathed deeply, then she nodded with a surge of determination. "No… No, I want to do it now."

"We'll create a portal, you just step through it when I ask. We'll take care of the rest." Malefor said. "I'll tell you when."

Malefor stepped outside the cell and created a rift, which Imperia hopped through first. After a glance at each other Cynder and Spyro followed. They emerged in the middle of the stone circle, surrounded by pillars. From in the middle the patterns on the stone were lovely, zigzags and spirals and geometric shapes. She beat her wings and flew out of the seal, with Spyro doing the same but needing to beat his wings a few more times than she did to achieve the same effect.

Malefor stepped into the now vacated space, nodding in approval as he saw that they had all emerged in the exact middle of the design.

"Excellent aim." He said, smiling. "How are things looking?"

Imperia circled the symbol, examining it from every angle and humming in approval. "Beautiful."

"So are we ready to do this now?" Malefor asked.

Imperia nodded, rejoining him in the middle of the circle.

Malefor looked to Spyro and Cynder. "I'll be back in one minute. Anything could happen, so be prepared."

With that he took Imperia and disappeared.

Spyro looked to Cynder with a soft smile, sitting down beside her and then gazing up at the sky. "Are you ready for this?"

She gazed up as well. "I'm…"

Her eyes ran over the mountainside, the stone structure, the oily surface of the bubble. There were no sounds aside from her heartbeat, and Spyro's breathing beside her.

High above them was the white star, massive, overwhelming, impossible to look directly at. It's energy burning down on them, radiating power which felt like it could sweep them away.

"…Scared…" She eventually said.

"I'm with you." Spyro responded softly.

She stared out into the purple void of convexity, her mind filled with memories. A lifetime of fights, some wins, some losses, all of it making her stronger. It felt like fighting The Dark Master once again, stepping into danger to meet a threat which she didn't really know if she could defeat, with only her friends to give her courage.

It brought with it a kind of clarity. A moment of inspiration. A deep feeling in her heart that no matter how good or bad she was, she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that she was here to fight against something evil, and if they succeeded then they would be achieving something good.

She was still afraid, but she didn't mistrust her own fear anymore. It was no longer an element dangerous to herself, something beyond her control. It was a part of herself, and she accepted it. It too made her stronger.

Spyro's mind was filled with similar memories. He was thinking about fighting The Terror of The Skies in convexity, and then the fight against The Dark Master much later. There was nobody he would rather have had by his side than Cynder.

"Hey." He whispered to her.

"Huh?" She said blankly, then turned to him. "Yes?"

"Nothing. I just wanted to say I love you."

Cynder smiled, leaning in and bumping her snout against his. "I love you too."

Malefor breathed deeply and evenly. Imperia touched his shoulder encouragingly.

"I can still come with you if you ask."

He shook his head. "I appreciate the offer, but you and Flare just can't fight properly in there."

He stepped up beside Pleasure and raised a paw, digging his claw into the air and tearing open a rift.

Her face slackened and she tightened her eyes even more as she felt the presence of convexity in front of her.

"When you're ready take a step through." Malefor said softly.

Pleasure opened her eyes and looked around, taking one more stare at Flare's tail, then at Imperia and Malefor, gathering her courage, then closing her eyes again and more or less flopping through the portal.

Malefor immediately closed it behind her, then opened another one and jumped through it. Imperia's cry of 'good luck!' echoed out into Convexity and carried to Spyro and Cynder too faintly as Malefor landed beside them.

The trio looked at the black scaled shape laying in the centre of the sealing array, the golden ink starting to glow.

Symbols shifted and flowed, merging together and changing, even the stone pillars themselves seemed to bend outwards, flexing as the entire design locked into place.

The gold on Pleasure's body seemed to sink into her scales as the symbol took root, and then her bones began to twist and flex, her horns starting to grow longer before stopping halfway, a slow scream rising up out of her throat.

And then Darkmire opened her eyes. Blazing yellow, but glowing with white over the top as the symbol started to affect her and turn her magic against itself.

The dark dragon stood up on her spindly legs, her eyes fixing on them, then looking around at the complex prison which she found herself in, and which she was in fact a part of. Her very body, inside and out, was being used to complete the seal. It was something that Darkmire had never seen before, or perhaps which she had long ago forgotten.

She reached out with her paw, finding it hit an invisible wall. Intriguing, and even more intriguing was the way she felt like her control over her body was not quite… solid. She was not like Hope in that she felt insecure about her identity. The idea that she really was a passenger in Pleasure's body, rather than the other way around, did not perturb her in the slightest.

To her Pleasure was just a puppet at best, and a mildly inconvenient anchor at worst. Darkmire had no fears about ownership, or any such petty concerns as Hope had shown. And so she found the stretching of the link between herself and her anchor to be a source of curiosity and amusement.

The moment lingered on, dragging out to an almost painful length before she finally spoke.

"Tricky, tricky…" She clicked her tongue chidingly. "Scribbles and scratches, arcane arts and crafts. So you seek to split me in two, right down the middle? Oh… but where is the middle? Suppose you succeeded, and you got rid of something. What would you really be left with? Pleasure is nothing, I've long since made sure of that!"

"She's our friend." Cynder said.

Malefor gave her a warning glance. The longer Darkmire stayed in the circle without fighting them the more effective the circle would be. They had to keep her talking.

Cynder gritted her teeth in irritation. She hated the idea of speaking with this creature any longer than she absolutely had to, but she had some idea of what to say to the black dragoness to keep her feeling talkative. Preferably things which gave Darkmire a chance to hurt them with words.

"Friend? Friend!? Ha! You might as well be friends with…"

She turned her paws this way and that, noting that her claws had been clipped.

"…a toenail clipping."

She eyed the manicure which Imperia had given her, then bared her teeth slightly, grinning as they sharpened back into deadly points.

"How attentive… But utterly wasted on an empty vessel."

"Don't you put her down." Cynder said angrily. "She's braver than you'll ever be."

"She's certainly braver than you could ever be." Darkmire laughed. Her eyes turned to Spyro suddenly, and she gave him a predatory grin. "How's the face? I see you've recovered from more than one deadly affliction since I saw you last. You have a lot to thank me for, wouldn't you say?"

"Hope wasn't just an affliction. He was a life, and having to take a life is always sad. Even if we end up taking yours. And I have Cynder to thank for freeing me from Hope and for curing me of the poison which you tried to put on me."

Darkmire smirked. "So then, you want to do to me as you did to Hope. Split me open, slay me, and bring along whatever scraps of a 'friend' you can find in Pleasure. Oh how terrifying… Can you see me shaking and shivering and quivering with fear? Well you know what you have to do, squirm your little way into Pleasure's mind and rip me out, roots and all. Un-dig my claws from her juicy little brain. Even if you'll never get rid of my fingerprints I can tell you'll want to rip me out no matter what damage it might do to her… So go ahead then. When you're gooooooooood and ready… Hit me with your best shot."

She began to laugh.

"I hope you've learned the rules, because I am going to be checking!"

"Well I hope you've toughened up a bit since last time I went into Pleasure's mind and you freaked out so hard you hid for a week."

Cynder shot back.

Darkmire roared in laughter.

"This is going to be fun!"

A sphere of darkness burst out from her body, a pure black orb expanding around her only to be stopped dead by the symbol which she was trapped within. For a moment the pitch black sphere stayed there, pressing against the barrier. The stone groaned and cracked slightly, but the symbols had taken on a life of their own, glowing golden with power, and they held… for now.

"Very nice. So the silver one can still help you even in her impotence. I suppose that's fitting. How about the red? I look forwards to speaking with her."

The sphere reluctantly contracted, Darkmire looking at them with narrowed eyes.

"Doesn't it bother you to be going through so much effort, when the only reward you're going to get is a used up shell of a dragon, so far removed from what she might once have been like? You're fighting so hard for… nothing."

"The satisfaction of killing you means a lot to me." Cynder said in a voice as cold and hard as steel.

"Okay, that was scary, but I get where Cynder's coming from." Spyro said with a faint smirk. "And by defeating you we'll be stopping you from destroying the world. That means a lot to me."

Darkmire considered them, yellow eyes gleaming with white energy, calculating. Plotting.

"Why, Spyro! I'm hurt! I no longer want to destroy the world. To summon the golems of the deep and wreathe this globe in fire. That idea lost it's appeal long ago. I take pleasure in far smaller things now. Like torture. My long imprisonment has caused me to ascend beyond such needs as drove your little dark sides."

She gave them a predatory grin, and her eyes turned to Malefor.

"Shall we make a deal, then?"

Malefor narrowed his eyes. "When we first met I informed you that I was not there to quarrel with you."

"Oh, but you also said that perhaps we could make a truce."

Darkmire said sweetly.

"You said perhaps you might even offer me assistance."

"Don't listen to her." Cynder said warningly. "She's trying to trick you."

"I am aware." Malefor said, giving Cynder a small nod of thanks. He raised his voice to speak to Darkmire. "Unfortunately we are now enemies, the time for such talk has long since elapsed. Although I should really thank you for allowing us to save Spyro. It will make your downfall much easier to have his assistance."

Darkmire giggled.

"I don't need any assistance from you. But I think perhaps you need assistance from me. Forget about Spyro, forget about Cynder. I can give you what you really want."

Malefor fixed the grinning spectre of Darkmire with an icy gaze. "You're in no position to negotiate."

"Oh am I not?" Darkmire grinned wider.

The ground started to crack and rumble with power.

Darkness soaked into the rock, flowing and spreading. Outwards, further, further.

The symbol's golden lines began to bend and twist, inky black ropes wrapping around them as Darkmire stretched and pulled at her sphere of containment.

There was a loud cracking sound as the golden lines shattered, those on Darkmire's body glowing brighter than ever and burning into her scales.

Imperia's seal, even as it tore apart, still performing it's job of latching onto Darkmire and searing itself deep into her body and magic, designed to activate when, as had surely been inevitable, Darkmire broke her containment.

The effect stunned Darkmire for a moment, the darkness pulsing and wavering, but then she looked up at them from the ruins of the seal, and the shadow continued to grow.

"Oh… am I not?" She repeated, grinning.

It flowed across the ground, blackening the very rocks beneath their feet. Cynder created a small circle of unaffected stone around the three of them.

And Darkmire slowly walked out of the symbol, a flood of darkness following in her wake, oozing from her black scales and melting into the rock.

Then she raised a paw and slammed it down against the stone. A flash of purple light pulsed through the rock, and it began to quiver slightly.

Spyro and Malefor's eyes both widened in shock and dread as they sensed a familiar act of magic being performed.

Darkmire slowly raised her paw off the ground, fingers curled as if she was lifting a great weight, and as she did the stone also began to lift.

Cynder lowered her centre of gravity, but the wave of moving stone was spreading all around. Lava burst forth from places where lava should have been impossible. But Darkmire wasn't an earth dragon, nor a fire dragon.

The realisation struck her as it had Spyro and Malefor several seconds before, and in a moment the three of them were taking wing, flying up and circling in the top of the dome.

Stone shifted and bulged, lava flowed freely. Rock cracked and blackened with heat.

A shape was emerging, moulded from earth, animated by darkness.

Darkmire looked at them from her place, standing on the head of a massive Golem.

"Now… shall we negotiate?"

She began to laugh.

The golem was smaller than The Destroyer, as it had to be to fit inside the bubble, but it was larger than any other Golem that Cynder or Spyro had seen. The creature had molten red wings, thick club like legs, and arms which bulged with stony muscle. It's head was bulky, thick, and crowned with a pair of horns like those of a ram. It's maw was full of spiky stone teeth. It looked like a gargoyle, an ugly, squat and powerfully built gargoyle.

It opened it's mouth to roar at them, but Darkmire unclenched her fist and the creature stopped it's movement, becoming still and seeming almost to pause, while the dark dragoness looked at them and continued to laugh.

Imperia's symbol still shone brightly on her forehead. Their plan was still possible. But they were now facing the full force of Darkmire's power without a sliver of protection.

Malefor beat his wings a few times, flying forwards slightly.

"Very well. What do you have to offer me?"

She grinned. "You cannot stop me getting out of here. Impressive though this bubble might be, much more impressive than Imperia's little scribble, I will break it given time. So you have nothing to offer me except the spiteful pleasure of seeing Spyro and Cynder's faces when you betray them for the thing that you want most."

Cynder felt her blood run cold. It made a horrible amount of sense.

"He wouldn't." Spyro said, but he didn't sound entirely confident himself.

Malefor said nothing. Did nothing.

"Why did you save Spyro and Cynder's eggs from destruction? Why did you save them instead of just killing them? You need power to go up against the Dragon Ancestors. You want to rule the world, not destroy it, but perfect it. But every good god still needs a devil… yes?"

Darkmire grinned.

"I will kill The Ancestors for you. I will kill every single one of them, as I had planned to do anyway. You need not risk a single cowardly claw. And then I will retreat to the dark places of the world, and you will send me sacrifices to use as I please. I will grant you the rest of it, a whole world to be all yours. And all because I will enjoy seeing Spyro and Cynder suffer, knowing you betrayed them. You can even tell Imperia that you fought to the bitter end with me and barely escaped with your life. You'll be a hero to the whole world and to her! I would never tell a soul. Cross my heart and hope to die, stick a needle in my eye!"

She began to laugh again.

Cynder realised what would happen the moment before it did. She opened her mouth to scream. But not a threat, not a plea. She knew that Malefor, deep down, beyond even the point of good or evil, wanted nothing more than to control his own fate. He would never allow himself to agree to a deal which allowed Darkmire to remain in the world doing her evil works. He could never rest easy in such a world.

And hopefully he cared about her and Spyro too much, and wouldn't be able to live with the guilt. And Imperia would figure him out, would know what he did and hate him for it. Malefor couldn't live like that.

So she knew he would turn the offer down, she knew it.

But that didn't matter.

All that mattered was the doubt.

The moment in Malefor's mind where he didn't know.

Just as Cynder hadn't known if she was good or evil in that moment long ago. Hadn't known if she could betray Spyro or not. And that moment had nearly sealed her fate.

Before she could speak, while Malefor was still reeling from the offer he'd been given and trying to decide if he should take it.

In that moment Darkmire moved. Faster than the eye could track she disappeared from the head of her Golem and reappeared in front of Malefor, paw reaching out and grabbing his skull.

"You're mine!"

Darkmire yelled, laughing uproariously. Her eyes gleamed bright yellow for a second as a pulse of darkness shot through Malefor's body.

The old purple dragon's scales disappeared in blackness and his eyes glowed white, and instantly he turned towards Spyro and Cynder.

Darkmire laughed harder and harder, the golem reaching out, picking her up and then holding her protectively to it's chest as Spyro and Cynder were left alone, facing…

The Dark Master raised his head and looked at them. In the darkness of an improper transformation, glowing white eyes instead of yellow.

What intelligence there might have been in The Dark Master in his prime was gone, in truth he was dead, but Darkmire had taken advantage of the moment of doubt.

Just as The Dark Master had once done to Cynder, right before she and Spyro had fought and cast him down for the last time. The Dark Master had seized on that moment when she didn't know who she was, if she was good or bad, and he had filled her mind with darkness and made her once again into a puppet under his control.

So too had Darkmire pushed her own evil nature into Malefor, and it had taken him over.

But the voice was the same. That distorted, twisted voice which was burned into both of their memories.

The Dark Master looked at them with arrogance and anger, raising his voice in a bellowing roar.

"PREPARE TO DIE!"

Whew, now that's a cliffhanger. I had to rewrite this chapter a few times to make it feel right, hopefully I succeeded.

Looking forwards to the next chapter already, once the fight starts in earnest the words flow more freely. Although fighting was already looking grim, and with the return of the Dark Master it may not be an option at all.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Thanks for reading!

Until next time

-4Dragons