Chapter 4: Flight

I thought I could finally have a peaceful night for once, but Cynder had her nightmare. A nightmare that relived her entire life as the dark menace that I once knew her as. The nightmare that was real which physically and mentally changed her. However, it didn't end the way it should have. The darkness won in her dream, resulting in her being truly eradicated from that realm. Thankfully that realm was just the dark side of her mind, which hopefully has decided to leave her once and for all through the nightmare.

The familiar noise of raindrops hitting the leaves of the trees surrounding the cave could be heard, giving me my wake-up call. I slowly opened my eyes, first checking Cynder in case she had another horror moment. Thankfully it was the exact opposite as she was smiling despite still being in a deep sleep. Maybe it was because our tails were interlocked with each other, giving her the knowledge that I was always here and that she was not alone. Whatever it was, it made me happy that she was able just to have at least some good sleep.

I laid down next to her for a while, just waiting for her to wake up so that we could go on our travels to the city of Warfang to meet up with the other dragons as well as Sparx who would probably be in a state of an emotional wreck. Soon enough, she opened one eye looking at me with clear happiness in her eyes.

"Morning Spyro," she says, still with a tired tone.

"Morning", I reply with a sense of relief that nothing bad had happened whilst she was asleep this time. "Did you get a bit of decent sleep?"

"Yeah, I had a nice dream!" she mentions with a sigh of relief but also a bit of smugness.

"What was it about?" I ask, curious by how she said her last sentence.

"I'll tell you later, in a better position," she replies, clearly trying to tease me.

"Fine. Anyway, we got to get moving soon as it is a long flight to Warfang." I add, knowing we had a long day of travel

"Yeah that is true," she responds.

We moved our tails away from each other to allow ourselves to move without us dragging each other in a tug of war situation. Once we freed our tails from each other, she proceeded to let the tip of her tail touch the thigh of my hind leg wanting to do something later, but I wasn't quite sure what she was hinting at. Needless to say, we went to the river to hydrate before heading for our long flight back to the city. We both splashed our faces with the freshwater to freshen up and wake us up fully before taking to the skies.

"You ready?" I ask.

"Never been more ready than ever!" she replies, as we took off into the sky, gaining altitude so that we could find our sense of direction. We had a glance around and saw a couple of damaged pillars that looked like corners of a massive wall. "That's where we must be heading!" she said and soon enough our wings started flapping away, pushing the wind to thrust us towards the city.

The wind speed is fairly low compared to what it had been for the last few days leading up to the big battle with Malefor. This, in turn, meant that we had to work a bit harder as we would use the wind to help us travel faster as well as conserve energy as we could get away with not flapping as frequently or with as much force. However, we couldn't use these tactics due to the low wind speeds

Despite the wind being against us today, the temperature is for once really nice, not being too warm but not being too cold which is typically a rarity up at these altitudes as usually, it is way colder. We do get used to the coldness but when the temperature is balanced like this, flying is just that bit extra better.

Anyway, we were coasting for quite a lot of the journey, as it still would be a very long journey and if we manage to not take any breaks, we should hopefully be at Warfang just before sunset. That's the target as flying at night can just be a bit eerie and at times dangerous. As well as that, we can lose each other pretty easily as purple and black aren't bright colours. So, for us, it is key that we make it to Warfang before the sunsets.

Fatigue was starting to kick in around the halfway mark, really testing how well our bodies have recovered from everything we had done. We knew we must get there on time, but we weren't sure if it was possible.

"How are you holding up Cynder?" I asked, checking if she was alright.

"I'm doing alright, sore but I can keep going," she replied, sounding a bit breathy whilst saying her words. She looked as if she had the same amount of fatigue like me, still flying efficiently but not at top efficiency. Her scales were reflecting quite a lot of the sunlight, which was not normal for her, which exposed quite a lot of her scars on her scales.

"Hey, have you noticed all of the scars on your scales?" I asked, wondering if she knew of her current condition.

"There's a lot?" she questions in surprise. "I knew I had some scars present but I didn't think that I had a lot. I mean, you've got a few scars as well, so I thought I was just the same as you."

"Wait, I have scars?" I reply surprised.

"Yeah. You do have quite a few," she comments honestly.

"Oh, well hopefully we can both have our scars fixed," I add in hopefulness.

"Well, scars typically are meant to last for a lifetime, aren't they?" she argues.

"Well, chances are there could be some process to either remove them or at least make them more invisible and harder to see," I suggest.

"I hope you are right," she replies, finishing our brief conversation.

However, she is right. Scars are meant to last for the rest of a dragon or any living beings' life. It symbolises crucial moments that have occurred in someone's life that has permanently left both a physical but most importantly, a mental mark that will forever be remembered for the rest of their life.

Even the health gems couldn't heal the scars. They could seal the opening but that is it. They are a true symbol of how much fighting a single dragon has been through. Some may only have a couple of small ones whilst the ones who fight their entire lives have scars so big as well as having them everywhere, results in them having scales that become discoloured and oddities all over them. That was something I didn't want from myself or Cynder.

As we still fly on trying to keep on flying despite the even greater feeling of fatigue and pain, the wind picks up and thankfully is blowing towards the city, allowing for us to not work quite as hard as the wind catches the under section of our wings. I stretch out my wings trying to gain the benefit of the increased wind speeds.

"The wind has decided to finally work with us," I commented

"About time! My wings feel as if they have never flown for this long ever both," she replied.

"Well, we're nearly there, once we pass that checkpoint tower we are pretty much there." I declare in relief

"Well let's hope the welcome party isn't very loud. I just want some dinner then bed right after," she remarks

With the faster wind, we cut down our travel time drastically, able to reach the city of Warfang just before the sun was even starting to set. Due to protocol as well as having an attempt of trying to enter the city without masses knowing that we had finally returned, we landed just outside the city walls, just behind a hill where we started to walk along a small cobblestone path which was still needing urgent repairs to enter the city through the gates.

As we slowly approach the city's half-destroyed wall, a small mole appeared with a full-on military uniform who seemed to be the mole in charge of the checkpoint gate. As he climbed out, he looked directly along the path. Once he noticed that it was me and Cynder, he seemed to have a fright and pointed a blade at us.

"What dark magical beings are trying to replicate the fallen Spyro and Cynder!" he shouts with both fear but authority.

"What do you mean fallen? We sur-" I try to comment before being interrupted.

"No! There is no way in hell you could have survived that entire thing!" he yells, becoming very spooked out.

"Umm, well we somehow did so can we just head in?" Cynder comments impatiently, clearly worrying that this will stir up drama. "He's going to get the whole city to come out at this rate," she whispers to me.

"Yeah, so much for a stealth entrance" I whisper back.

"Fine then, prove that you can use more than one element Spyro, and Cynder, can use your dark magician elements!" the mole requests, clearly wanting proof

"Dark magician elements!" Cynder screams irritated. "Do you really want me to use them on you!"

Things heated up more and more as they both kept throwing words at each other, making a massive commotion that the whole city could probably hear. Eventually, a more senior mole appeared, clearly looking frustrated at his guard's lack of noise control.

"What are you doing young man!" the senior mole scours towards the gate guard.

"Oh! Uh. These guys are impersonating Spyro and Cynder. Our great fallen heroes!" the gate mole replies with a worry heard in his voice.

"How do you know? They are only missing. They haven't been declared dead, have they?" the senior mole argues.

"But it would be-" the gate mole replies before getting cut off.

"Silence!" shouts the senior, clearly frustrated. "Dragons can survive impossible odds, especially the two dragons that saved us. So, you can head back to your post right now! I'll deal with it."

"Yes sir" the gate guard replies sounding defeated before heading back through to the city via his tunnel.

"Thank goodness, he attracted a massive crowd to the gate and all of my guards were completely outnumbered!" he mentions, putting a worried feeling into myself and Cynder.

"Yeah, he just kept arguing with Cynder," I reply, not realising he hadn't even looked at us.

"Wait what? Oh my god, you are alive!" he states shocked, clearly showing his true personality. "I've got to admit, I am surprised you made it out in the state you are in."

"Well, we both were surprised, to be honest," Cynder replies.

"Right, I'll get the gate for you guys. Just in case there still is a crowd, I'll form up a parade to get you to the Dragon Temple where the guardians are!" says the mole, who proceeded to head up to the wall and sent a signal through a chap at the gate. At this point, the gate slowly opens outwards.

"Well, wish us both good luck," I comment with us both being anxious but excited at the same time. At this point, the parade had been made allowing us to enter the centre of it to be escorted to the Dragon Temple. This is when things start to get a bit crazy. First, people were looking outside of their windows finding out what was going on. Next, they realised that it was an escort for me and Cynder and finally, everyone starts to crowd the streets to see the heroes of the world.

"Well this escalated pretty quickly!" she screeches trying to make sure her voice could be heard over the shouting.

"I agree! This is mad!" I reply also shouting. It got to the point that everyone was following us through the city towards the centre, and some folk were smart enough to wait just outside of the central plaza which is just by the Dragon Temple entrance. Eventually, some sentences could be recognised such as. "How did you do it?", "How scary was it?", "Are you guys mates now?".

That final one did catch me and Cynder out as we both just looked at each other and blushed bright red (although for Cynder her black scales hid most of the redness). We weren't for the record as we hadn't done it yet, but it was a weird question. Why do people think two teenagers would have done it at this young of an age? I mean that is revolting that they would think of that. We had just started this thing so I can't say if we are even ready yet.

Despite the off-putting question, we arrive just outside of the main entrance to the Dragon Temple where the senior mole commanded the parade to halt. The parade gives us an opening, allowing me and Cynder to get out of the parade box. We slowly walk through a row that was cleared for us to reach the Dragon Temple door. As we reach the door, we briefly hear Cyril and Sparx having a quick conversation.

"What is all this racket outside! I swear every time I get a bit of sleep; something interrupts it. Never fails!" Sparx shouts in his annoyed voice.

"Hmph, well maybe you should just try to sleep at night like everyone else. Now let's see who has come knocking with a crowd." Cyril remarks, clearly trying to annoy Sparx further.

As the massive mechanical door started to open inwards, showing the golden like sandstone floor, Sparx makes a final comment. "Well, whoever is at this door is well inferior to me now, as I supported my well, lost best bro Ss... Spyro!?" he says looking at me dead in the eyes.

"Surprise," I reply, with Sparx looking as if he is going to burst into tears in any given second. He quickly flew into my shoulder and started sobbing.

"I thought you were a dead man! But you're not!" he cries out, just glad that I was still here.

"I did say I would look after him Sparx." Cynder comments.

"And I thank you Cynder for that!" Sparx replies, whilst still crying in my shoulder.

"I'm very surprised," Cyril says, with clear confusion in his voice. "Well let's just take this inside without all the distractions from the crowd you have drawn in."

"Yeah, it was due to a loud mole who didn't believe we were still alive," I mention. "And, it caused the argument of the decade to occur."

"I see," Cyril replies. "Well, we will have much to discuss."

The four of us head fully into the Dragon Temple, where the great door is shut behind us, silencing the deafening crowd. I and Cynder looked at each other wondering how much stuff the guardians will want to discuss with us. We thought that once we got here, we would be allowed to relax until tomorrow where discussions would start. But clearly, a lot of things must be on their minds about our future.


A/N

This chapter took me longer than the previous chapters so hopefully, it is good!

With an increasing number of views as well as visitors I can only say thank you guys for reading.

Finally a big thanks to Hollycross9 for giving a favourite and follow as well as AquillaPrime for going the extra mile on leaving a review. It is highly appreciated!

Anyway, an update with chapter 5 should be released at the same time tomorrow as this chapter was released so stay tuned.

Thanks, Supaconnor