Chapter 17: Origins revealed (Hopefully a longer chapter too)

Spyro's search eventually led him to the outer fields of the courtyard on a hillside, where he found...nothing. "Well, that was anti climatic..." Spyro said in a totally not self-aware tone, and turned to see a small rock on the ground. He picked up the rock and sat down.

"Ah, I don't know what I'm doing, it's like...something out of a dream" He muttered to himself as he chucked the rock, and looked at the trees in the distance, taking in the calming smells and sights of the forest, Spyro took the time to properly think about everything: about Cynder, about Ignitus, about everything that has transpired in his life. "Why me? Why do all these things happen to me..." Spyro sighed, suddenly he heard cheering and other noises coming from the courtyard.

"What's that all about?" He wondered as he backtracked to the courtyard to see Incendia was being crowded by other dragons, Spyro wasn't sure what was going on, but he didn't like it. "I wonder..." He trailed off and he slowly walked towards the sight he was seeing. As he walked up to them, he saw that all the dragons seemed to be smiling and complimenting her, odd considering that she had recently brought back from the dead. But when they looked at Spyro, they showed signs of mistrust.

"Odd..." He seem confused as he went to go find Cynder, maybe she knew something. He took to the sky to get a bird's eye view of the Temple, he eventually found the Dragoness walking around the Temple's garden. "Cynder!" He called to her as she looked up to see him landing in front of him.

"Spyro! There you are! You had me worried" Cynder told Spyro as he sighed. "Yeah, sorry about that, I've been held up, anyways, I've got some weird news..." Spyro started talking with Cynder, little did they realize there was a Dragoness watching from the shadows.

"Gaul! I require you're presence!" Malefor's voice echoed through the halls of his fortress, catching Gaul's attention, he now bore an eye-patch, thanks to Malefor's demeanor, as he trekked through the halls, other Apes stared at him, mocking him, or keeping their distance. As he entered Malefor's throne room, the large purple dragon noticed his entry. "Ah, Gaul, come in please" He gestured for the Ape to enter, and so he did.

"I do believe we got off on poor terms, and I apologize, but now I have...greater plans, a fair bit of those involving you. You see, while I have my little puppet off in the Temple, I'm still intent on conquering these lands, but Rose can only do so much, and you are an Ape yourself..." Malefor trailed off, his eyes didn't move at all as he spoke with complete fluency. "Now come with me, I have something to show you" He led Gaul to a separate room by the throne room, as they entered, Gaul noticed that the walls started looking more like natural caves.

"Where's he taking me?" He wondered as they finally came to an a ledge, however, the area below them was not bottomless, there were gems sprouting from the ground as dozens of enslaved Dragons were being forced to mine them by Apes. "What is this place?" Gaul asked as Malefor smirked.

"I'm glad you asked, this is where I harvest our elemental gems to restore my mana, I also taught you all to artificially harness their power, but onto important matters: I've brought you here to discuss what I believe to be the best course of action, with Rose being the obvious choice for a spy of some kind, I figured you could have...a larger role. As my general" Malefor said the last part with a smirk as he held out his hand to Gaul, though he was surprised at first, he accepted without hesitation.

"This will give me the respect I deserve" Gaul thought to himself with a menacing look in his eye, which didn't concern Malefor by the slightest, he merely had the Ape follow him back to the throne room. "Now begone with you..." Malefor sent Gaul about his business.

"That's weird, right?" Spyro asked Cynder as he finished listing his weird experience with Incendia, Cynder didn't seem troubled. "I think you're being paranoid" Her response was what shocked Spyro.

"Paranoid? Cynder, she only came back from the dead a week ago, are you certain there isn't anything going on? Plus, you don't seem like yourself" Spyro responded to her as she seemingly brushed off the comment. "What the hell...?" Spyro muttered to himself, the normal Cynder would've taken this seriously, something was wrong. Then, he heard a rustle coming from the bushes, as he got closer, a large shape jumped out and tackled him.

"Ah!" Spyro was startled as he felt the hard concrete on his back, but this allowed him to see who his attacker was: it was Rose. "Hello again, Spyro, long time no see" She grinned evilly as Spyro seemed surprised by how big she'd gotten. "Someone gained a few pounds" He remarked, causing Rose to growl.

"I would watch your attitude if I was you, Malefor has gifted me many things during my service to him, including the strength to kill you" Rose brandished her claws for Spyro to see as she lowered them dangerously close to his face. "But, as much as I'd love to do this, I have other purposes for being here. It seems as though not everyone was affected by my spell to trust Incendia" She grimaced as Spyro looked in surprise.

"That was you? You made everyone trust her!? What's your plan with Incendia!?" Spyro's mouth was covered as they both heard people coming. "In short, she's Malefor's puppet, but now you need to keep quiet..." Rose tapped his forehead as he became unconscious. Then she summoned magic into her palms as she rested them on his form, and suddenly a purple mist rose from his body, and within an instant, the mist had become a perfect clone of Spyro.

"You know what to do..." Rose told the clone as it nodded and walked off to distract the people coming, allowing Rose to drag away Spyro's unconscious body away with her. "Now, to take my prize to Malefor..." Rose smiled evilly as he took to the sky.

Why are we doing this? He's probably fine" Terrain asked Shard as they walked towards the gardens. "I want to make sure he's alright, plus, I don't feel uncomfortable around Incendia right now" He responded. "Personally, I don't think there's anything wrong with her" Terrain said as Shard sighed.

"Of course you'd say that" Shard remarked as they were about to enter the gardens, they saw Spyro walking towards them. "Hey Spyro, you okay?" Shard asked as Spyro simply looked at him.

"Uh...yeah" He replied rather robotically. "You don't seem fine to me with a voice like that" Terrain replied as Shard glanced behind him to see a large dragon flying away.

"Wait...is that?" Shard was about to go further, but Spyro attempted to shoot him with flames. "Ah! Evil Spyro!" Terrain exclaimed as Shard froze him into an ice cube.

"That's obviously not our Spyro, look!" Shard directed Terrain's attention to the small purple figure in the larger Dragon's hand. "Well shit" Terrain sighed as they saw a Dragon running up to them.

"You two, Incendia's trying to kill Ignitus!" His statement made them panic. "WHAT!?" Shard yelled as he shoved the Dragon aside. "Come on!" He told Terrain and the other Dragon as they went to stop Incendia from making a horrible mistake.