Chapter 30: Execution
The Next Day
Spyro awoke to a cloudy and gloomy day, he knew what was to come today, Cynder was in the bed with him, while Sparx was in his hammock. Spyro leapt out of bed and Cynder got up with him.
"Spyro...You doing okay?" She asked.
"My Father is going to die today, I'm not fine, Cynder..." Spyro trailed off and looked at Sparx, who was still asleep. "He doesn't need to experience this." He continued and they left his quarters to see Blaze walking up to them.
"Spyro, I'm sorry. Alida has denied your request to cancel the execution, Malefor will be terminated by guillotine at mid-day." Blaze dropped the news and Spyro looked at the ground.
"Spyro..." Cynder grabbed his paw to comfort him, the Purple Dragon didn't flinch while Blaze sat solemnly with them.
"Alida did say you could have a special viewing of the event, I tried to tell her it might not be the best choice, but again, she didn't listen." Blaze added on. "If you want to go and see Malefor, he's accepting visits only from those close to him."
"Spyro?" Cynder grabbed his chin with her paw, and lifted it up to see he had tears coming from his eyes.
"He's going to die and there's nothing I can do..." Spyro trailed off, while Blaze was surprised by his sudden emotion towards the topic.
"Malefor is Spyro's Father, he's all Spyro has left." Cynder explained it to Blaze, who nodded once he understood.
"Ah, I didn't realize...well, this is your only chance to go and see Malefor before the execution." He informed them and left the two Dragons.
"Come on, Spyro, we should go see him." Cynder coiled her tail around his and managed to get him to come with, though he was silent for the majority of the trip. Finally they had arrived at the guillotine and saw a tent to the right, inside was Cyril, Malefor, and some Moles who were tightening Malefor's cuffs.
"Spyro, what are you doing here?" Cyril asked, but Spyro walked past.
"I came to see Malefor...but just me and Cynder, please." He replied bluntly.
"Alone? I hardly think that-" Cyril's remark was cut short by Spyro giving a menacing glare. "Point taken." He gestured the Moles to follow him outside, leaving the couple alone with Malefor.
"Spyro...you shouldn't be here." Malefor stated, but Spyro shrugged.
"Well, I'm losing you a day after I learn who you really are, I feel like it's owed to you." He replied and Malefor pulled him in for a hug.
"Spyro, I know we never knew each other, but you're the greatest son I could ask for...Synthia would be proud of you." Malefor had started to cry, which caused Spyro to also tear up. Cynder walked up, and Malefor stopped the hug to look at her.
"Cynder..." He trailed off and the Dragoness gave an empathetic look. "I am so sorry, for everything I was forced to put you through, and you've taken such good care of Spyro. If it helps: know that I'd be proud to have you as my Daughter-in-law when the time comes." Malefor apologized as Cynder nodded and smiled, he had her join the hug.
"Malefor...Dad, I'm so sorry for this, you deserve better." Spyro addressed Malefor as his father face-to-face for the first time.
"But how can you forgive me? I've caused you both so much pain." He inquired the smaller Purple Dragon, and he pulled back to look at his lover.
"Something I told Cynder awhile back: it's not like me to hold grudges, even though you've done all these things to me, I can forgive you, especially considering how you were enslaved to do this." Spyro gave his reasoning.
"Thank you...at least I can die knowing my only family doesn't despise me." Malefor chuckled as the Moles from earlier entered to see Spyro and Cynder out. "Spyro, Cynder: May the Ancestors watch over you and bless you." He said to them and they left the tent.
"Better get ready, it's almost mid-day." One of the Moles told Malefor as he glanced at him.
"Thanks for killing the moment." He rolled his eyes and sat solemnly, preparing for mid-day.
Spyro and Cynder had remained at the guillotine until everyone else had arrived to view the execution, Shard sat beside the couple and watched as Alida herself walked onto the platform with the guillotine, she was a magenta Dragoness with a pink underbelly and highlights that were around her body, but she was also very old.
"People of Warfang, today we celebrate a long awaited victory over the forces of evil. Now, we have the perpetrator for these vile and discriminatory acts of violence." Alida gestured for Cyril to reveal Malefor, and the crowd booed and started to throw things at him, but he didn't pay any mind to it, He merely thought of Synthia to stave off the noise and ridicule. Spyro himself was growling under his breath at the crowd. "This..Desecrator has tortured us for far too long, and now he will be put to justice." Alida presented the Guillotine, and Cyril strapped Malefor into the neck and hand slots, clipping them into place as the Moles raised the sharp blade.
"This isn't right..." Spyro rushed into the open, and leapt onto the platform.
"Spyro!" Cynder cried as he was electrocuted by the Mole guards.
"Let him go!" Blaze demanded and rushed up to them. "I said release them!" He tried to free Spyro, Alida didn't flinch.
"Spyro! Let go of him!" Malefor tried to shake free, but was electrocuted by a Mole, eventually he stopped resisting and submitted.
"Cyril, drop the blade." Alida commanded and the Ice Dragon started to release the rope, while Malefor closed his eyes and teared up.
"Malefor! No!" Spyro started crying while the crowd were gasping at him for trying to save the Dark Master.
"I'm coming, my Sapphire..." Malefor whispered and the blade started to drop.
"NO!" Spyro screamed, suddenly the entire world turned to a blue-ish hue, alongside everyone in it...except for Spyro. "What?" He looked around, everything was frozen in place except for him. He removed the Moles holding him back and he walked around, he waved in front of Alida's face: no reaction. He had stopped time.
"Hello, Young Dragon." He was startled by a disembodied voice.
"Whose there?" Spyro asked in confusion, wiping the tears from his eyes that he still had. "Is this Guardian #42?"
"I do not know this "Guardian #42" you speak of, I am the Chronicler, and I've watched you for some time now."
"What happened?" Spyro asked in reference to what he had done.
"The Purple Dragon can harness many abilites, including Time itself. Learn to use this ability, and you will be able to see things almost before they happen...that being said, I've watched you for to long to see you distraught, so I came to contact you. Since you've been able to stop time, you can save your father from death. Go ahead." The Chronicler explained as Spyro looked at Malefor, whose eyes were still closed. He walked over and un-clamped the upper half of the wood holster, and moved Malefor out of it, pushing him backwards and closing the holster.
"What do I do now? To, you know: resume time?" Spyro inquired the Chronicler as he walked over to Malefor.
"Simple, you must concentrate on undoing the action, and the time-stream will resume, we will meet again, Young Dragon, you can be sure of that." The Chronicler bid Spyro farewell and the Purple Dragon nodded and closed his eyes, concentrating as everything gradually resumed and finally Time fully started up again, he looked at Malefor, whose eyes squinted open.
"What? Spyro, what's going on?" He asked and Spyro started tearing up, he wrapped his arms around Malefor's neck and hugged him, crying all the while, everyone else was in shock at where Malefor had gone.
"What's going on, where is the body!?" Alida turned and saw Spyro hugging Malefor.
"Guards! Seize the Prisoner!" Cyril exclaimed, but as the Moles tried to grab the Purple Dragon, they were blasted away by...a Shadow blast? From Spyro?
"What just happened?" Blaze looked over.
"STAY AWAY FROM MY FATHER!" Upon announcing this statement, everyone was speechless, including Ignitus.
"He's your what?" Cyril raised an eyebrow.
"You heard me, he's my father, and I won't let you kill someone whose entire life has been spent in pain!" Spyro growled as Alida walked up to him.
"Calm down and explain yourself." She said.
"Okay..." Spyro took a deep breath and explained. "A long time ago, Malefor was corrupted by an evil force called The Dark Master, who possessed him and used his body as a vessel for destruction. During our final duel in the core of the planet, I managed to drive off the spirit and reawaken Malefor...please Alida, he's in so much pain...don't kill him." Spyro explained his backstory, Alida looked at him, then at Malefor, who plead with his eyes to live.
"...I'll consider it, Guards! Return him to his cell until further notice, as for the little one...escort him to my office." Alida had the guards strap the magic-dampening cuffs onto Malefor and walked him off, while two guards forcefully grabbed Spyro and escorted him away.
"Spyro!" Cynder cried out and rushed through the crowd with Shard close behind.
"Everything will be all right, Cynder!" Spyro reassured her as he was pushed away from the center of town to a large building that stretched higher than the Dragon Temple, presumably where Alida resided.
"Get in there! Alida will meet with you shortly." The Mole shoved Spyro into a polished quartz room. The floors were glimmering as well as the walls and roof, on the right hand side was a portrait of some Dragon named Tachyon, on the left hand side was a dresser with bottles on the top and jewelry along with a vase holding some Marigold flowers, at the front half of the room in the middle sat a table with chairs around it in the middle of the back-half of the room was a desk, presumably where Alida sat. Speaking of which, she had just entered.
"Well, Spyro, is it? You certainly have bearings, I'll give you that." She complimented the young Drake.
"Alida, please, I'm begging you to not execute Malefor...he's all I have left." He pleaded to her, but she didn't flinch and picked one of the Marigolds, taking in the scent.
"Spyro, I'm nearly 900 years old, I've seen all this world has to offer, but never, have I seen what I witness today." She turned to face him.
"I don't understand..." Spyro trailed off as Alida walked past him.
"I mean that just a few days prior, you saved all of time itself from the Dark Master, then suddenly you're his buddy, nay, his son. You also have the audacity to try and prevent a public execution of one of the most evil Dragons in all of our time. So pardon me for being blunt: Why the hell did you try to save the Dark Master?" She asked in a rather condescending tone.
"Well...I need to explain some things...Malefor is in fact my biological father, or at least I think he is. He told me how he was corrupted by the Dark Master-"
"Yes, yes, all these things were explained to me when you interrupted the execution." Alida replied and sat in her chair at the desk, she then gestured for Spyro to join her. "Please, have a seat." Spyro reluctantly sat in one of the chairs on the opposite sides of the desk.
"Alida, I was told you make the laws of Warfang and that the High Council simply decide which ones can actually be passed and applied, if that is the case. I'd like to request that you make something that helps Malefor to be released from captivity." Spyro requested, but the Dragoness laughed.
"Spyro, it's not that simple, laws have to be constructed as Bills through a series of trials which determine it's overall rationality, once it comes to me, it's merely my job to either Veto or allow the Bills to pass onto the High Council, who in turn, decide whether to make it an official decree or not. If Malefor was to be released, it'd have to be through either serving his sentence, or if someone bailed him out with a huge sum of money, preferably through Gems. So unless you can gain a high enough sum of Gems, Malefor will be serving a life sentence in prison, since the execution is off the table now that I have another side to the story." Alida explained in depth to Spyro, who wasn't the most happy.
"Is there any way you could contribute to his release?" He asked.
"Unfortunately no, considering how my reputation is already at stake thanks to the stunt you pulled...how did you even manage that anyways? One second you were being held back, the next, you're hugging Malefor, how?" Alida interrogated Spyro, who wasn't too keen on revealing his power to stop time. "Nevertheless, I can't do anything for you, Spyro, I'm sorry." Just then, an attendant opened the door, she was a pink Dragoness, about Spyro's age.
"Um, Blaze has come to see you, Alida." She said as the Older Dragoness looked up.
"Very good, Ember, bring him in." Alida replied, but Ember got a good look at Spyro before vanishing, making him feel uncomfortable. Eventually, Blaze entered and was beckoned to sit by Spyro. "Blaze, might I ask what you're doing here?"
"Actually, I came to back up Spyro and request that you release Malefor from captivity." Blaze's request made Alida raise an eyebrow.
"I'll tell you what I told Spyro: I cannot publicly release him without denting my reputation, either he serves his sentence, or you bail him out." She explained more simply to the older Fire Dragon.
"Really? Than getting him out will be much easier than anticipated." Blaze replied, confusing Spyro.
"What do you mean?" He asked.
"You really think I'm on the High Council and don't possess Gems of any kind? Alida, how much is the amount required to bail Malefor out of prison?" Blaze inquired.
"About 2000 Gems total."
"Psh! A walk in the park, Spyro. I'll get your father out of that cell and into a home. I can cover his bills and whatnot, and find him a good place to live. Thank you for your hospitality." Blaze had Spyro follow him out of the office, Alida didn't fully care for it for other reasons. As they left, they caught sight of Ember staring at Spyro again, so he hastened his walk, he didn't feel comfortable around her.
"Blaze, are you actually going to bail out Malefor?" Spyro asked as Blaze nodded.
"He deserves a second chance...everyone does." He replied, once they had entered the streets, Moles and Dragons alike glared at Spyro, presumably because he revealed his origins. "But they should be a little more grateful since you managed to save all of time." As they kept walking, Spyro caught sight of Cynder, Flare, Flame, and Shard walking up to him alongside Sparx.
"Hey there, Savior boy." Sparx greeted him.
"Hey Sparx. What's with this small group?" Spyro asked.
"Well, After your...announcement, some of our friends decided to kinda...not hang out with you...Cyril has managed to form a small following to kinda disown Malefor." Shard tried to be delicate about how he spoke.
"So...you mean everyone hates me...except for you?" Spyro guessed, and Cynder nodded reluctantly.
"I'm afraid so...especially the Secondary Dragons...speaking of Secondary, did you shoot Shadow Fire earlier?" She wondered.
"I...I think so, but I don't know why." Spyro replied and was greatly confused.
"Well, maybe we can ask Malefor when we go to bail him out." Blaze considered as they walked off to go and finally release Spyro's father.