Chapter 19: Cross the Sky for you
Spyro was curled up in his cage when he noticed Malefor entering his chambers, Spyro pretended to stay asleep while Malefor went about his buisness. "What's this?" Malefor was viewing something through his dark magic as Rose entered.
"My liege, may I speak with you?" She asked as the Dark Master looked up at her.
"Speak, and do it quickly." He growled as Rose looked at the cage where Spyro was, and then at Malefor.
"I don't trust Gaul, why would you make him general of the entire army?" She asked as Malefor smirked.
"Oh I trust Gaul as much as I could kill him, but I cannot deny his cunning tactics and strategic genius, you would do well to respect that, Rose." Malefor explained while Rose seemed very concerned.
"But master, he-" Rose was cut off by fire blasting over her head.
"In due time, I expect you to respect my judgement, now leave!" Malefor ordered as Rose growled in distaste and did as she was commanded to. "I know you were listening." Malefor turned to face Spyro, who lifted himself upright.
"You should know I don't tolerate disobedience, something you will come to understand, but that's not important right now...what is important is that I have larger plans for you and Cynder...speaking of which." He showed Spyro a projection of Cynder and Sparx roaming through the forest.
"Cynder! Sparx!" Spyro cried out as Malefor smiled evilly.
"Yes, they're alive and well, and from the looks of it, the two of them are trying to come and rescue you...how...hopelessly heroic." Malefor faded the projection.
"Cynder will rescue me!" Spyro said confidently while Malefor laughed.
"Oh please, all she's going to do is inadvertently fulfill my plans when I harness both of your life-forces and become the ultimate weapon...in fact, I'll hasten their progress..." Malefor grinned while Spyro looked hopelessly at the projection of Cynder and Sparx, knowing they would be walking into a trap.
"Ugh, we haven't made any progress!" Cynder groaned as she and Sparx trekked through the forest.
"Not to mention we've been going in a circle." Sparx added while Cynder sighed and they decided instead to simply go forward instead of the circle they'd been going in unknowingly.
"Wait...whose that?" Cynder looked at a strange figure in the shadows.
"I don't know but I'd personally like to not die...so how 'bout you don't go to the creepy guy in the shade." Sparx tried to stop Cynder but she went towards the figure anyways. "Um...Spikey? Come back!" He chased after her, but she seemed stuck in some kind of trance, her eyes looked hypnotized as they lasped through multiple shades of green, blue, and yellow.
"Cynder...Cynder!" Sparx waved his hand in front of her face while she hobbled to the figure. "Listen mate, if you don't let her g-agh!" The Dragonfly was swatted aside as the figure knelt down in front of Cynder, and a stream of purple energy flowed from his forehead into hers. He suddenly dispersed and Cynder fainted.
"You gotta be kidding me..." Sparx sighed as he flew to the Dragoness. "Hey...anyone home?" He asked the unconscious Cynder while she lay there, unmoving.
Rose entered the war room to see Gaul was formulating a plan of attack for something disclosed. "So...what has Malefor got you to work on now?" She asked the Ape general, who merely grimaced at the sight of seeing Rose.
"If you must know: our master has set me to work on crafting an attack plan on the Dragon city of Warfang. He believes something valuable lies within the city's vault, so he's having me formulate a plan on how to get inside the city." Gaul explained while Rose walked up to the war table.
"How...quaint." She replied simply, causing Gaul to eye her, his eyepatch becoming more visible.
"Is there anything you want to say?" He asked her as she shook her head and turned away.
"Do you trust in the Dark Master's judgement?" She asked Gaul, who simply seemed surprised.
"What do you mean? The Dark Master's wisdom is inexpendable." He responded, causing Rose to turn around.
"I know, I know, but his judgement...does he want what's best for us?" Her question made Gaul on edge.
"You're sounding awfully treasonous, Rose..." He pointed out as Rose merely left the war room. Once she was outside, she walked to the hangars where the Apes were tending to their Dreadwings, and stared into the forest, in the direction of Warfang.
"I'm beginning to question Malefor's judgement, when he recruited me, he spoke of power and undisputed leadership, with me at his side. But now...so far he hasn't delivered." Rose was starting to question why she did what she did, the killing, the betrayal...Shard. It was true that at one point in time, Rose possessed feelings for him...that time had passed...or had it really? She didn't know...but The Dark Master was certainly confident in her loyalty. Rose also knew of Cynder and that she was coming this way. Maybe...something could be done to win back her place in the chain of command.
Sparx buzzed around the form of Cynder, whom still laid on the ground unconscious. "Hello? I swear if you don't wake up, I will personally slap you until you do." Sparx demanded just as Cynder coincidentally regained consciousness. "Finally, you've been out for awhile." The Dragonfly said grumpily while Cynder shook her head.
"How long was I out?" She asked while Sparx shrugged.
"Probably 15 minutes or so." He replied.
Cynder sighed. "That's not awhile, then, awhile would be at least a few hours." She criticized Sparx who groaned in response.
"I liked you better when you were sleeping...now, can we continue trying to get my bro back." Sparx responded, referring to Spyro.
"Well...I know it's gonna sound weird, but I think I know where to find Malefor's fortress, like the exact location." Cynder explained, causing Sparx to cross his arms in suspicion.
"Really...You realize that creepy shadow guy gave that to you, right? That means it's obviously a trap." Sparx said while Cynder grabbed the gem bag that had fallen off of her.
"Then our next move: spring the trap." She said confidently and walked off in the direction of the fortress, leaving Sparx as he sighed.
"Seriously...why did I go along with this?" He said to himself as he flew after Cynder.
Spyro was in his cage pondering the recent events that were unfolding before him, Malefor was leading his friends into a trap, and he couldn't tell them anything. But he definitely needed to get out of here. "Maybe...just maybe..." Spyro stood up and rammed himself into the cage, which stun him in response, but he did so again, this time, the cage seemed to falter. He gave it another charge, and the cage actually seemed to form cracks in it's display. He didn't know if Malefor could feel his magic being tampered with, but he didn't want to stick around long once he got out.
"Come on..." Spyro growled as he rammed into the cage again, this time is fully shattered and he slid across the floor. He was free. "Well, now that that's done, I say it's time to leave." He brushed off his shoulder as he ran to the entrance and looked out the hall both ways.
He was in the clear. "Good, now I just need to get to Cynder before she walks into a trap." He said in his thoughts as he snuck through the halls of the fortress, attempting to stay out of sight.
"I've officially called this meeting to order today, to address our most recent plan: attack the Dragon City: Warfang." Malefor announced as Rose and Gaul watched him walk up to the war table. "Have you analyzed the best route for entry?" He asked Gaul, who nodded in response.
"Excellent, I assume you've also located the object of interest?" The Dark Master said as Gaul nodded once again. "Perfect, I thought too small before, merely harnessing the power of Cynder and the other Purple Dragon wouldn't be enough to conquer this pathetic world...but with the recent news of Ignitus having survived my attempt to destroy the Temple, I think it's time that we change strategies." Malefor explained as he turned to face Rose and Gaul.
"Ready the troops, and dispose of the Purple Dragon. As far as we're concerned: he no longer has any use for me." He informed Gaul, who went to prepare the legions, while Rose went to find and dispose of Spyro, leaving Malefor to himself, who looked at the war table.
"Soon...the power of the universe will be in my grasp."
"You sure this is the place, Spikey?" Sparx asked as he and Cynder walked up to Malefor's fortress.
"Do I think the giant and ominous tower is the Dark Master's fortress? Yes I do, now come on." Cynder replied sternly.
"You'd think this would be more visible to us..." Sparx questioned the logic but then followed Cynder, who was at the wall, and started to scale it. "Uh, what are you doing?" He asked as she started climbing upwards.
"If I know Malefor, then he'd easily spot us flying in, so the best way to get in is to scale the building, now shut up, you're gonna break my concentration." Cynder informed the Dragonfly as she climbed further up on the tower.
"She's absolutely crazy..." Sparx trailed off as he followed her.
Spyro crept through the halls, making sure to keep his presence masked as he dodged Ape patrols and other defenses.
"Now I gotta find the exit, and get to Cynder before she gets to me." Spyro thought as he walked down one almost deserted hall. It was quiet...a little too quiet for the Purple Dragon's liking. "This seems too easy..." He muttered as he turned the corner to see a door, curious, he opened the door to reveal a small room, with not too much to really grasp his attention. All that was in the room was a large table with maps on it.
"What's this?" He asked as he tried to reach to table's height to see what was on it. "That's...Warfang? The Dragon city, I've only ever heard about it from the historic texts. What does Malefor want with it?" He asked himself in confusion, he saw a knife in one part of the map, seeming to mark a specific point of interest in the city. As he looked closer he saw some kind of gem that was highlighted on the map.
"What is that?" Spyro wondered when he heard a door open from behind him.
"Well, there you are!" Spyro turned to see Rose standing in the door frame, before he could do anything, the Fear dragoness had him pinned to the ground. "You should know better than to run off like you did, and now..." She tossed Spyro into the hall.
"Your usefulness has come to an end." Rose entered a battle stance while Spyro regained his footing and did the same, preparing for what was to come.
Well, that was fun, if you aren't aware, the title of this chapter is a reference to the song that plays in the credits of Dawn of The Dragon, so there's that, anyways...peace!