Hello and welcome to a surprise Spyro one-shot! So basically this story is my entry to a writer's challenge on a Discord server I'm in. The prompt was: "How would you write the start of A New Beginning?" Answer? As an AU story, of course.
As always, I don't own anything related to the Spyro franchise. Enjoy!
I had no idea what came over me, I just had to keep running.
I didn't have a clue where I was but just as long as it wasn't the place I was before then, I'm fine with practically anywhere.
"Keep looking!" One of the apes barked at another. "She couldn't have gotten far!"
Hearing that they were getting closer, I quickly slid down a small hill and scampered into a nearby open that was just the perfect size for me.
Everything was silent except the frantic huffing and puffing I was doing. No matter how many times I tried to calm myself down, every twig snap and ruffling in the trees would just send my heartbeat skyrocketing again.
When is this going to end? I thought to myself. How long are they going to chase me?
How did I even find myself in this situation? Everything was normal back in the Well of Souls but I had to walk past the wrong doorway and I had to accidentally eavesdrop on Gaul talking about this ritual that'll give me the power to free his master.
Who was Malefor? And why was I the one that had to free him? Was I special?
Ten years that the apes have raised me, teaching me about the ongoing war and teaching me how to hunt and kill at such an early age… Why didn't I see the signs before? They were raising me to be their weapon, a puppet… a 'Terror of the Skies' was what Gaul wanted to call me.
So I ran, ran away from a life that wasn't my choice. Imagine if I hadn't accidentally eavesdropped or if I was actually keen on the whole 'Terror of the Skies' thing, then what would've happened to me? I was to become this monstrous servant for the rest of my life? No way, I won't let that happen. I won't.
"Report, now!" I heard the voice of Gaul, the Ape King, call out. A voice that sends shivers down my spine everytime I hear it. "Where is she? Where is Cynder?"
I quietly crept to the back of the space as much as I could, covering my mouth with my paws. Can't let them hear me, I'm not going back!
"N-No sign of her, master…" A single ape answered timidly.
A second later, that same ape let out a screech of pain. I couldn't tell if that was a dying screech or simply a smack in the face. It was hard to tell sometimes.
"Fool! Keep searching for her!" Gaul growled. "She's the only one that can bring the Dark Master back, we need her alive!"
"But m-master, she's as good as dead out there in the open," another ape chimed in, causing another screech of pain to echo into the wilderness.
"I don't care!" The Ape King bellowed. "Find her… or you'll meet the same fate."
As the voices of the apes eventually started to die down, I finally breathed a sigh of relief. They were gone… for now. But I couldn't stay in this muddy, wet gap in the hills forever, I needed to get out of here as quickly as I could.
Popping my head out of the space, I gazed at my surroundings to see if the coast was clear. Once I was certain that the apes weren't going to jump at me, I emerged from my hiding place and proceeded to cautiously walk into the open wilderness, my defences heightened just in case.
I stopped for a minute and glanced back towards the large monstrous mountain behind me. The Mountain of Malefor was one of its names, the Well of Souls was what the apes called it. But to me, it was my home. This was the furthest I ever ventured out since I wasn't allowed to go outside; something about 'the enemy finding me and convincing me that I was on the wrong side'.
Well…? I don't see anyone trying to do that! The only creatures I see were my caregivers forcing me to comply with some ritual I'd rather not know about.
At the sight of the mountain, I frowned and continued running further and further away. There was no turning back now, I was not going back there. I'd be dead within minutes…
Where I was going now, I had no idea. But as long as I was nowhere near that place, then everything should be fine…
Hopefully.
(-)
Many days passed, and I had no idea where I was heading. There was no destination set in my head, just 'away'. That's all that my mind could think of at the moment and my legs had refused to stop unless I was resting.
Of course, I had wings which would've made travel much easier but alas that was the opposite for me. My wings were too small for long distance travel and could only manage a short glide or briefly hovering off the ground for no more than a minute.
I spent so long wandering through the empty wastelands that separated my home from the rest of the world, the many skeletons of fallen warriors being my only company. Water was surprisingly scarce and the animals I could eat were avoiding this place like the plague. But somehow I still kept on surviving…
I should be dead… why was I still alive after all this time?
Today, however, I managed to escape the battlefield of fallen warriors and the environment drastically changed. Instead of the twin suns constantly heating up my scales, the sky was covered by trees with leaves that drooped down to a large ape's height. The ground had also become much wetter and dirter, sometimes being submerged completely in water.
Trekking through this land was a nightmare; I was thirsty, I was hungry and I was exhausted. Not exactly the best combination to travel but I didn't have much of a choice, I needed to get back to solid-ish ground.
As the fifteenth bug made an attempt to bite at my scales, I groaned to myself and stopped in my tracks. I frustratingly sat on my back legs and let my mind wander. I couldn't be out here forever, how long before I reach any signs of civilization? Am I close or just a second away from reaching the edge of the world?
HOW LONG WAS THIS GOING TO TAKE?! The voice in my head bellowed at me. I then angrily slashed at the shallow water below me, droplets of water splashing all over the place.
I remained still, allowing my erratic breath to calm down slightly. Calm yourself, you can't let your temper get the better of you. My thoughts advised me. You made it this far, you can't give up now. Someone will turn up… eventually.
Yeah… eventually. I wonder when 'eventually' was actually going to be.
While I continued to brood quietly to myself, it was soon interrupted by the slight shaking from behind us. I looked behind me to see that the large fungi that was poking from the surface of the water was starting to move around.
Curious about the weird moving object in the ground, I slowly started to approach it. Was that fungus really moving or was I going crazy?
My question was answered when I noticed that the fungi were beginning to rise up from the shallow surface of the water. The fungi then started to sprout leaf-like legs before revealing to be a massive arthropod of some kind, its four large eyes staring straight at me.
My eyes widened as every part of my body went completely stiff. What the actual hell was this thing? This creature was not part of my training… How am I going to kill it? I'm in no condition for that!
As the beast bared its venomous fangs, I did the only thing I could do: I ran for it.
Even though I was running low on hunger and thirst, my body seemed to gain enough energy to dart away from this swampy creature. Part of me wanted to stay and fight but it would've proved useless, that thing was twice my size and I didn't have any elemental breaths at my disposal. The joys of being raised by creatures that aren't my supposed species…
The running away wasn't exactly going to plan either, that arthropod was fixated on me how matter how much I tried to evade it. I was its prey and it wasn't going to give up their snack so easily.
My heart skipped a beat when I spotted that I was running out of land. Somehow I found myself on the edge of the cliff, with quite a drop below me. There was no way I would get away unharmed if I just simply jumped that. However it did give me an idea…
Once I reached the edge of the cliff, I skidded to a stop and turned to face my attacker. I stood my ground as the creature got closer and closer, waiting for the perfect opportunity to utilise my idea.
That's it… just a little closer.
When the creature was at a leaf-like leg's reach, I mustered whatever strength I had to propel myself off the ground and into the air. I hovered for a few seconds as I watched the beast stand there and stare at me, powerless to reach me in the air.
I couldn't help but chuckle to myself. There was nothing that stupid arthropod could do to stop me now!
Then suddenly, as I was busy celebrating my victory prematurely, the creature opened its mouth and spat out a slimy substance right at me. I was too late to simply fly out of the way and the substance made contact with me, leaving my joints trapped in sticky goo.
Uh oh.
I then began to plummet to the ground, falling down towards the trees below me. I tried to flap my wings in an attempt to gain some altitude but I failed to do so since the slime was preventing me from doing so.
However my wings, despite its limited movement, did slow down my movement. I tried to reach the cliffside so I could at least grab onto something but ended up colliding with the rocky face head on, my body turning into a ball as I viciously rolled down the cliffside.
Pain. That's all I felt for the next few seconds. Everything was a blur, all I saw was dirt, dirt and more dirt. Sharp stings of agony filled my limbs as I came to a sudden halt, one of my paws tripping over a stone that was buried deep in the ground.
With a loud thud, I landed in a small puddle. My vision was not quite clear yet so I wasn't sure where I was at the moment. There were trees… At least I think they were trees, they looked more like giant mushrooms than actual trees.
I tried to lift my head, only for it to slowly slam back into the wetland. I was weak, so weak… everything hurts. Maybe I should just rest for a while…
As my eyelids got heavier, I saw something in front of me. I couldn't make out what it was exactly; all I could see was purple, orange and yellow. Whatever it was, it was around my size. Maybe even slightly taller…
The blurry shape stood there for a while, seemingly confused that I had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. But it slowly started to approach me, a hint of caution with every step.
Then it spoke.
"Hey… are you okay?" it said. It was a male voice, but less gruff and deeper than what I'm used to. This voice was much calmer and younger, a voice that seemed to make me feel at ease.
However I couldn't answer him back because everything started to turn black. But before I lost consciousness, the mysterious voice had one more thing to say.
"Stay with me, okay? Everything will be alright…"
Then it all went silent.
(-)
"Hold on, did I see their eyes flicker?"
"Shh, they're waking up!"
I slowly lifted my eyes open, squinting at the sight of the sunlight and quickly moving away from it to clear my vision. There was still pain surging through my body with every little movement but it was less agonising than it was before.
"Hey, take it easy…" a voice close to me muttered, going to move me to a more comfortable position.
But once the voice laid their paws on me, I immediately reacted and hastily retreated away from their contact. However, that only resulted in more pain.
"Ow!" I managed to exclaim, my voice sounding a bit croaky from the lack of talking over the past few days. I went to stare angrily at the creature that would just suddenly touch me, growling under my breath as a sign of warning.
As I stared down at the other being opposite me, I instantly saw the fear in his eyes and something inside me made me soften up slightly. As I felt sorry, like what I just did was the most horrible thing to do.
But also… There was something about him that seemed familiar somehow.
He was a dragon, just like me.
The dragon was around my height, maybe a bit taller thanks to his golden curved horns. His scales were purple, which matched his eyes, and his wings, chest and tailblade were golden yellow.
Around him was a bright orb of light that moved around in a jagged fashion every few seconds. On a closer inspection, I then realised that the strange orb of light was actually a dragonfly that was almost the size of the dragon's head thanks to his lengthy insectoid body.
My eyes widened at the sight of the dragon in front of me. It couldn't be… I pondered in my head. Could it be the purple dragon? I thought the apes smashed his egg a long time ago.
The purple dragon shuffled his paws uncomfortably, his tail becoming closer to his body as his eyes filled with guilt.
"I-I'm sorry…" he stuttered nervously. "I-I was j-just trying to h-help."
The dragonfly folded his arms, less intimidated by my defensive behaviour. "Yeah, just ease up there," he said. "Those wounds aren't going to heal themselves, you know."
I raised an eyebrow. My wounds?
I then gazed down at my paws to see that one of my arms was wrapped up in leaves as a makeshift bandage. I twirled around to see that my waist, left back leg and right back ankle were also covered in the same natural bindings.
These guys saved me? But why? They didn't know who I was nor did I know who they were… so why go through all that trouble to just save a stranger?
"Where am I?" I muttered, my tone more softer.
The purple dragon took a breath to calm himself down before answering. "You're in our house," he replied. "You had quite a nasty fall."
Our house? I took a brief look at my surroundings. Around me was a cave-like structure, a tiny hole in the top that sunlight crept into. Green roots were hanging from the side of the walls while enormous brown roots encased a massive mushroom deep in the back of the cave.
This cave was their home? Seems a bit big for a single dragon and his pet dragonfly… perhaps the purple dragon's family was with him?
"Sparx, can you tell Mum and Dad that our guest is awake?" The purple dragon then murmured, edging closer to the dragonfly.
The dragonfly, apparently called Sparx, glanced back-and-forth between me and the dragon, an uncertain frown plastered on his face.
"And leave you with her? No way!"
The dragon smirked. "Would you rather stay here all by yourself then?"
Sparx's eye slightly twitched as I slightly turned to face him, staring him down like a predator waiting for its prey. "Well… um, actually, when you put it that way… I'll go find Mum and Dad, you stay here."
And with that, the dragonfly zipped away and out of sight. That just left me with the purple dragon, the two of us sitting a distance away from each other in an awkward silence. Conversations weren't exactly my strongest skill, the apes back home would usually just snarl or shoo me away if I simply made eye contact with them.
But interacting with another dragon that was my age? That was much more difficult.
"Don't mind Sparx," the purple dragon eventually spoke up, chuckling nervously afterwards. "He's always like that… especially around those he doesn't know well."
I scratched the ground with a claw. "Oh… right." I managed to mutter.
"I'm Spyro by the way," the dragon introduced himself. "What's your name?"
"Cynder."
Spyro gave me a small smile. "Cynder…" he repeated. "Well, it's very nice to meet you."
"Yeah, um, it's nice to meet you too." I murmured. Those words felt very sour coming out of my mouth as I never thought I'd be ever saying that in my lifetime. But, sour feelings aside, they felt nice to say.
The atmosphere grew silent once again. I quietly moved further away from the purple dragon and began to wander around in the cave, flicking the loose roots with the tip of my wings. However, in the corner of my eye, I noticed that Spyro kept his gaze on me, as if something about me was just so interesting that he couldn't just look away for just one second.
"Why are you staring at me?" I asked him, feeling suddenly uncomfortable.
Spyro blinked and immediately looked away, red spreading across his cheeks. "S-sorry, I was just…" he stammered. "It's just that… I've never met another big dragonfly before."
Confusion swept over my face. "Dragonfly?" I queried. Did this guy not know what he really was?
Spyro simply nodded. "Yeah. It's nice to know that I'm not the only one out there."
"But I'm not a dragonfly and neither are you," I tried to explain to him. "We're just dragons."
That, unfortunately, only made Spyro a little confused. "Dragons? What are they? Our distant relatives or something?"
I stood there, perplexed by Spyro's lack of knowledge of his actual species. "You mean… you don't know?"
Spyro raised an eyebrow. "Know what?"
Before I could tell the purple dragon about, well, everything, our conversation was soon interrupted by the arrival of Sparx. He was talking with two other dragonflies, which I figured were his parents considering that Spyro had asked him to fetch them earlier. Both were small but were a head taller than Sparx, one had a blue glow while the other was illuminated in a dark pink.
"So there she is," Sparx muttered, "Careful with her, she's got a nasty stare." That last bit he whispered to the blue dragonfly.
"Sparx, don't be rude to our guest," the pink dragonfly scolded before floating towards me. "Now then… I'm glad to see that you've woken up, my dear. How are your wounds?"
"Better, I guess."
"You were quite beaten up when we found you," the blue dragonfly chimed in. "It's good that Spyro was there when he was."
At the mention of his name, Spyro's face fell once again but immediately changed to a smile when I made eye contact with him. I wonder what got him acting like that all of a sudden?
The pink dragonfly folded her arms. "I thought he and Sparx were playing by the old oak tree today…"
"There was an incident with the other kids–"
Spyro's eyes widened. "It was nothing, Mum!"
The pink dragonfly, which Spyro called 'Mum', stared softly towards the purple dragon. "We'll talk about this later, Spyro," she muttered. "Right now, we should focus on taking care of our guest."
"Indeed," The male dragonfly spoke up, his gaze directed at me. "Do you have a name, young one?"
I shuffled in my spot, my tail curling close to my feet. "Cynder…" I mumbled, feeling unconfident all of a sudden.
"Well then, Cynder, my name is Flash and this is Nina," The blue dragonfly said, gesturing to himself and the other dragonfly. "And I see that you're already acquainted with Spyro and Sparx."
I answered with a quick nod, my eyes briefly darting towards Spyro.
"Do you live far?" Nina then wondered. "Your parents must be worried sick…"
Something about that made my heart hurt. I knew that the apes weren't my real biological family, they made that clear from the very start of my life. But that begs the question, where was my real family? Did they miss me? Did they know that I even exist? Were they… dead? Is that why I've been stuck with the apes for so long?
I didn't have to say anything, somehow everyone knew the answer just by looking at me.
"You don't have any, do you?" Spyro was the only one to ask.
Staring at everyone with wet eyes, I slowly nodded my head.
"Oh dear… that's terrible." Nina muttered sadly.
Sparx, on the other hand, was less sorrowful than the others. "Lone wolf, huh? Sick."
"Not now, Sparx." Spyro hissed, frowning at his brother.
"What? It was a compliment," Sparx said, somewhat surprised at Spyro's reaction, before folding his arms. "Jeez, tough crowd."
Nina glanced a concerned look at Flash and the two floated away for a brief moment, as if they were silently deliberating on something. Occasionally there would be times where Nina would stare directly at me before returning to her mate's gaze.
I wonder what they were talking about… I wondered. It must be about me, right? Surely it has to be.
After a minute or two, the two dragonflies soon finished talking and hovered back towards the rest of us. I then noticed that something was different about their expressions. At first, they looked worried or perhaps a bit uneasy about who I was. But now, it was more… hopeful for some reason.
Whatever their expressions meant, they didn't prepare me for what they were about to ask me.
"Cynder… perhaps you want to stay with us? Here at the swamp?" Flash wondered, causing my eyes to widen.
They… They want me to stay with them? Why would they ask that to someone they literally just met?
"Wait, what?!" I heard Sparx exclaim, which was ultimately ignored by his parents.
"Me? Stay?" I murmured, looking down at the ground in sadness. "I couldn't…"
Nina then approached me and lifted my head so that I was at her eye level. "Nonsense, you'll be fine here." "There's plenty of room here for you."
Sparx then snickered, his gaze towards Spyro. "Yeah, she can sleep next to Spyro!"
"Sparx… zip it." Spyro frowned, his face turning red.
I, meanwhile, just stared at the two brothers with utter confusion. I didn't realise my sleeping arrangements were going to be such a big deal, nor did I understand why Spyro was making such a fuss about it. It was definitely strange but I decided to let it slide for now.
"That's enough, Sparx," Nina reproached, staring her son down with disappointing eyes. "Where Cynder sleeps is none of your concern."
Flash puts an arm around Nina's shoulder. "That's if she wants to stay, of course," he said, giving me a warm smile.
Here it was, the point of no return. I had to make a decision that'll impact my life forever, a decision that I had to make right here and right now. I only had a few options: Stay here and live in the swamp where no one could ever find me or leave and wander the land for the remainder of my days. Course, there was that third option of going back to the apes but there was no way I was ever going to decide that.
With the fear of the apes finding me roaming through my head, I finally made a decision… and it was the easiest one I'd ever made.
"Yes," I said. "I'll stay."
Judging from the look on everyone's faces, except Sparx, I could tell that they were happy with my decision as well.
(-)
Two years passed and I've never felt more at peace in my life.
The swamps, as my life progressed, remained the same as it was when I arrived; undisturbed from the world as whispers and rumours about the war came through like a breath of wind. But Nina reassured me that there was nothing to worry about since the dragonflies were seen as insignificant to be seen as a threat to anyone.
Although I couldn't help but be concerned for Spyro's safety. Over time, he and I have become close friends, best friends even. I wanted nothing more than to see Spyro happily live his life away from the madness that I had to deal with when I was younger, but if the apes, or worse the Dark Master, find out he's been here this entire time then his home, our home, will be in danger. I can't let that happen.
One morning, I awoke to see that both Spyro and Sparx left home early that morning. Which was odd considering that Sparx likes to sleep in most days, maybe Spyro forced him to get up early for some reason?
Heading outside to find them, I discovered that they've not gotten far. Spyro and Sparx were by a mushroom tree that was only a couple of minutes from where we lived. Spyro was standing on his hind legs as he leant on one of the roots, his wings wrapped around his eyes as if he was shielding them away from something.
"...Eight, nine, ten. Here I come!" I heard him say as he spun around and began to pace around the tree. But where was Sparx?
That question was soon answered when he suddenly appeared from behind the tree and circled around to face Spyro. "Never catch me this time, purple boy!" he called out before zooming away out of sight.
Spyro let out a sigh and rolled his eyes half-amusingly before he caught sight of me. "Oh, hey Cynder!" he called out, a huge smile on his face.
I smiled. "Hey, Spyro," I said, walking towards him. "What are you doing?"
"Just playing hide and seek," Spyro answered. "Wanna join?"
"Join you in hunting down Sparx for fun?" I smirked. "Count me in."
We began to roam the area around the tree in search of our yellow companion, which turned out to be quite difficult considering Sparx's size and the small amount of space around us. Eventually Spyro turned to see that Sparx was peeking behind the tree, his glowing aura giving him away almost immediately.
"I see you, my little glowing friend," Spyro said, a playful smile on his face.
Sparx emerged from his hiding place. "Seeing and catching are two different things, big boy!" he called out before speeding away once again.
Spyro then chuckled. "Yeah, you better run!" he said before turning to me. "Come on, he won't get far! He's gonna get it once I catch him!"
"Not before I catch him first!" I exclaimed, devilishly tackling Spyro to the ground and giggling to myself as I bounded away in pursuit of Sparx.
"Hey, get back here!" I heard Spyro shout as he got himself back up and began chasing after me.
As I said, I've never felt more at peace in my life. Two years ago, I had run away from a place that would've turned me into a weapon for the so-called Dark Master. Who knows what could've happened if I didn't overhear the apes talking that fateful day? I dread to think.
But that's not my life anymore; living in the swamps with Spyro and his family was where my destiny led me to and I don't intend to change that anytime soon. For once in my life, I was happy.
Unfortunately, only a few minutes later, both me and Spyro's lives were about to change…
Forever.
So there we go, I'd better stop before I start to repeat the events of ANB. I hope you enjoyed this little one-shot, I certainly enjoyed writing for Cynder again. She's just an interesting character to write!
Anyway, the next chapter of LOML is currently going through the beta-reading process so it should be released soon. So that's something to look forward to, yeah?
This is TARDIS1039, signing off. Allons-y!
