Chapter 22: Expansion
Cynder had been waiting for nearly 30 minutes before Spyro awoke.
"Ugh...my head..." He groaned and held his head, Cynder grew much more joyful.
"Spyro!" She stood up and bounded to his side, nuzzling him.
"Cynder? What's going on? Did we make it?" He asked as Cynder smiled with slight tears at seeing him alive.
"Yes, we did." She smiled and hugged him, allowing Spyro to hug back, when they pulled back they noticed a bright glow.
"Sparx! It's good to see you!" Spyro grew more cheerful as the Dragonfly crossed his arms.
"Yeah, well I'm glad you aren't dead, and as much fun as it is sitting here watching you two lovebirds, don't we have somewhere to be?" Sparx reminded Cynder, whom remembered as well.
"that's right, we gotta get to Warfang, we left Ignitus on our own terms, so we gotta get to the city and fast!" Cynder told the Purple Dragon, who was able to stand and followed them as they started to head towards the city.
"Gaul, he's coming around..." An Ape stood over Malefor as his vision came into focus.
"Master, are you alright?" Gaul asked him as he stood upright.
"I'm fine...what happened?" Malefor grumbled.
"We found you here, next to...her." The Dark Master glanced at the corpse of Rose.
"Clean up that piece of traitorous garbage and dump it where it belongs." He ordered and the Ape General did so, speaking in his own language at the other Apes to clean it up, once the body was out of sight, he turned back to face Malefor.
"What of the Purple Dragon?" Gaul wondered out loud as Malefor didn't move.
"Let him go to Warfang, it won't matter, have all the battalions ready to move out in 24 hours, now go, there is something I must do." The Dark Master commanded Gaul, who saluted and walked off to assemble the other troops.
"Now...where was I?" Malefor muttered as he went to his quarters. Entering the bleak and dull room, he sat at the basis of a Dark Crystal, but not before chaining himself.
"There..." Suddenly his eyes and mouth had a purple mist fly out of them and into the crystal, once it was complete, he reawoke with...Purple Eyes.
Gaul heard screaming coming from Malefor's chamber, he merely assumed that the Dark Master was finding some way to release his anger, all the while, he entered the barracks to assemble the troops.
"Attention troops! Tonight, we shall prepare for the fall of Dragon Kind, lead by the might Malefor, we shall destroy all who oppose us, and create a new world to rule amidst the ashes of Warfang, tomorrow...The Dragons shall fall!" Once he finished his speech, the Apes gathered for a singular "Hoo-rah!" and started celebrating, while Gaul himself was very satisfied.
Soon enough, Malefor entered the room. "Looks like you boosted morale." He said calmly as the General nodded proudly.
"What were you doing in there?" Gaul asked in regards to the screams.
"Just taking some...disciplinary measures." Malefor spoke rather calmly as he looked over the Apes. "Make sure they are well fed for tomorrow, and I want a strike force to infiltrate the city and break into the Temple so we can acquire the object of interest." He conferred with Gaul as they left the barracks.
"Make no mistake: soon we shall rule this pathetic world." Malefor grinned evilly as they walked off to continue planning.
"Spyro, make sure to hurry it up, we still need to get to Warfang." Cynder called out to Spyro, who was in a nearby stream washing the blood off of his face. He thought back to Rose: her regret...the pang of knowing she'd never see Shard again, he could feel the pain that she was in when Malefor killed her.
"Spyro? Are you okay?" Cynder had walked down and asked him, breaking out of his thoughts.
"I couldn't save her..." He grew more sorrowful while Cynder joined him in the stream.
"Spyro...Rose made her choice, and she paid the consequences for siding with the Dark Master, you did what you had to do." Her statement made Spyro feel worse.
"You think I did that? No...it was Malefor, Rose wanted to help me...she wanted to see Shard again, I couldn't save her from Malefor." He turned to face Cynder. "I could feel her pain, Cynder! She hated her life, and wanted to go back to the only Dragon she'd ever loved! I can't explain how I felt her...but the same happened when we reconciled after the fight in the arena. I could feel that you felt guilty, I can read emotions...but I don't know how." He started to cry a little.
"Now Shard will never know...he'll never know about Rose's regret." Spyro knew he shouldn't be so sad for a traitor, but when that traitor wanted to redeem themselves, he knew that he could've saved them.
"Some things are beyond your control...you shouldn't blame yourself." Cynder comforted Spyro while he wept, and they were in a tight embrace while the Dragoness allowed for the Drake's emotions to bawl out. "I'm here for you, Spy." She said.
"W-Why does everthing h-have to be so hard?" Spyro stuttered as the tears seemed to lessen.
"I don't know...but we work with what we got." She responded. "Spyro...you've carried everyone on your shoulders for so long, let someone carry you." Cynder wiped some tears off his face in a loving manner, and they looked at each other's eyes, and kissed on the lips for a brief moment. When they pulled back, Spyro gave a weak smile.
"I needed that..." He said in a weary tone as they both stepped out of the river, with Cynder leaning against him. Once they came up to Sparx, the Dragonfly didn't say anything since he was known for not being the most emotionally sound guy.
"Let's just get you to Warfang, and you can tell Ignitus about this...and he'll need some reassurance now since four of us have disappeared." Cynder pointed out, generating some confusion from Spyro.
"Wait...who else disappeared?" He asked Cynder.
"Nero...he died, while you were gone, Malefor used Incendia as a bomb to try and destroy us along with the Temple, but we all escaped...except Nero." She explained to the Purple Dragon.
"Just as long as we can get to the Dragon City and find Ignitus...I think I'll be fine..." Spyro sighed wearily as they started their voyage to the city.
Many Years Ago...
Malefor was at the site of their date: the Lakeside, as part of their one week anniversary, he had everything set up: a purple blanket with four candles at each corner to provide light and drive off Mosquitoes, quality foods and beverages that came from an off-brand market in their Temple that Hazan had commissioned to be built a while back in, Malefor also paid with the currency that Hazan gave them to work with, he had placed the bottom halves of the bottles in a small icicle he had made with his Ice abilities while the top halves stuck out, and ensured that it wouldn't melt, while the food was in a small basket he had woven together with his magic.
"Now...all we have to do is wait...Ah! There's one more thing." The Purple Drake turned to see a flowerbed of roses, he knew what he would do with them for Synthia. He was interrupted when he turned to see Ignitus.
"Ignitus...how did you know where I was?" Malefor asked him as he smirked.
"I had a hunch, we can leave it at that." Ignitus responded and sat down in the grass. "Are you preparing for tonight?" He inquired to Malefor, who nodded with a hint of nervousness.
"Yeah...yeah, I'm wondering if I should have a path of flowers that lead to this spot or not, does Synthia like fancy stuff?" Malefor wondered out loud, causing Ignitus to let out a small chuckle.
"Synthia was never one for exquisite things, I'm sure if you make her happy, that'll be the best you can do...but you could go out of your way to do something like make a flower path." He suggested to the Purple Dragon as his eyes and left paw showed a green aura, and he placed his paw on the grass. Within moments, flowers bloomed from the ground in a symmetrical and straight pathway.
"Not bad." Ignitus stated as Malefor himself sat down next to his friend.
"So, in other news, how's the situation with Incendia going? I know you only mentioned this earlier today, but still, I'm curious." Malefor asked Ignitus, whom sighed and watched as the sunset.
"Well, neither of our families know about "Us", so we both agreed to find some way to meet each other and possibly live together, I'm thinking of having her visit the Temple next week." Ignitus explained while Malefor broke some nearby Mana gems to replenish his Mana that was used on the flower path and small icicle, he spoke while the gems swirled around him and entered his body.
"As long as you're happy, that's what matters." Malefor replied while they sat there in silence, until Ignitus broke the silence.
"When do you think you'll tell Hazan about you and Synthia?" He has given his own love-related question to Malefor.
"I'm not sure...maybe in a few days, I want to tell him when he's in a good mood." Malefor answered simply while they stared at the lake.
"Well, I better go, I don't want to interfere with your plans with Synthia...good luck, Malefor." Ignitus smiled in a friendly manner as he patted the Purple Dragon's shoulder and left him to his romantic buisness.
"Now, where was I...? Ah yes! Now I remember!" Malefor went back to work, awaiting the coming night eagerly.
"Synthia? Are you there?" Malefor knocked on the door to the Dragoness's quarters, he had polished his scales and found something Zepho had referred to as a "Bowtie". One might consider it silly that Malefor wanted to celebrate only a week of being in love with Synthia, but Malefor cherished her beyond belief. He wasn't fond of love, it never really struck him that much, many of his fellow Students had Dragonesses all over them, they weren't the only ones in the Temple after all, but Malefor had been lacking in any form of it...until Synthia.
"Coming!" He heard her voice from behind the door and in a few mintues, she had opened it to reveal herself, and she was beautiful. She too had polished her scales, but to a greater extent, her horns glowed in a bright and gorgeous spectacle, which brought out her Purple Eyes even more.
"Wow." They both thought, Malefor was the first to break the silence.
"Synthia you look...you look incredible!" He complimented her as she smiled.
"Thank you, you don't look so bad yourself, I'm looking forward to seeing where this night takes us." Synthia replied as their tails coiled and Malefor lead the way.
"I promise you'll like this, I admit it's strange that we're only celebrating a week together, but I feel like it needs to be done. You're the love of my life, plus...considering how many Dragonesses Scorpio has been with, I think it might be needed." Malefor's last jokey part of the statement made Synthia giggle.
"What matters is that we're together, now, let's see this location of yours." She remarked as they went to Malefor's selected spot: the Lakeside, he lead Synthia down the flower path, which she was impressed with, and when they reached the area he'd set up, Synthia gasped in surprise.
"I never knew you were so romantic..." She trailed off and joined Malefor while he melted the icicle and grabbed the two bottles of Champagne.
"I guess it's natural, when it comes to the heart, I seem to find a way." He pointed out as he poured the liquid into a glass and handed it to Synthia, and poured one for himself, they then proceeded to watch the stars together.
"This reminds me of that night." Synthia said to the Purple Drake.
"I know, even though it's only been a week, it feels like we've been together much longer, and this time, I have some Mosquito repellent." Malefor referred to the candles he'd set up, once they were comfortable, he'd grabbed some of the food he bought and gave some of it to Synthia, who complimented the taste. Malefor then plucked one of the roses he'd found in the flower bed and placed it in between Synthia's upper-left and center horn.
quick character description, Synthia's horns are similar to Cynders', but instead of having three horns on each side of her face, Synthia only has two on each side, just wanted to point that out, and if you somehow didn't see the descriptions of characters, then Synthia is a very dark purple in color with Purple Eyes and a black underbelly.
"I thought you'd like it..." Malefor trailed off as Synthia blushed, and the two Dragons snuggled closer to each other, watching as shooting stars fell through the sky, Malefor reached for a smaller spare blanket he had packed and wrapped it around Synthia, as she was shivering. She leaned into Malefor as well, since his fire element provided a natural heat source for her, their tails coiled as they watched the stars.
"I could stay here forever." Synthia nuzzled the Purple Dragon while they remained there for quite some time. Eventually, Malefor was showing her the constellations in the sky, with which he was fascinated.
"That one right there to the east is Moonwalker, if you look closely, you'll see that those stars form a Dragon." He pointed out the shape to Synthia.
"Yeah, I can kinda see it now..." She agreed when another shooting star flew by.
"Did you make another wish for that one?" Malefor asked the Dragoness, who nodded eagerly. Just as she had done it, she yawned. "Sounds like someone's tired..." He smiled at Synthia, whom Malefor could tell just wanted to stay with him through her defiant expression.
"Malefor...could we rest here tonight? Hazan isn't holding any lessons tomorrow, and the sky is beautiful tonight." Synthia requested while the Drake wrapped his wing around her back.
"For you, my love? Anything." He smiled as he made sure Synthia was comfortable before he himself laid beside her, allowing for her to snuggle up against him, with Synthia laying against Malefor's chest, and her head up against his neck. Malefor wrapped both his wings around her this time, making sure she was warm.
"Goodnight, my love." Malefor kissed her briefly on the lips and after some more stargazing, fell asleep alongside his lover.
Malefor sat in his throne rubbing his eyes, he wearily went through his memories of old: Synthia, Hazan, Zepho...Ignitus. "What am I doing?" He asked himself, he had the perfect life...and it was robbed from him. Suddenly Gaul entered the throne room.
"Master, the armies are ready." He saluted slightly as Malefor's body slightly shifted, and his position changed drastically, becoming more serious.
"Excellent, we march at dawn!" The Dark Master spoke rather viciously and left the room to confer with the General.
Well there we go, some more backstory, how epic, first thing off, I gotta just point out how the romance between Malefor and Synthia is one of my favorite things to write for this story so far, like seriously man, it's some of the most fun I've had so far, probably because I get to write Malefor as a very different character since this is the past. Also, sorry for the lackage of present events, but I'm really up for writing Malefor's history at the moment, it's pretty good stuff. Now, before you ask: yes, the battle of Warfang is going to definitely resemble the attack seeing in Dawn of the Dragon, and will be the Endgame in terms of Malefor's career, but what happens might surprise you, anyways, I'm gonna write some more chapters involving the trip to Warfang, and Chapter 25 is probably going to be when Spyro and Cynder arrive at the city and meet with Ignitus, to give a proper time frame, now, peace out!