The figure turned his head towards Spyro and began to speak, his voice sounding quite strained. "Small purple dragon, step out of the way. I'll take it from here." With that the scaled… stuff moved and pulled Spyro towards the figure and behind him- judging from his voice.

"Not many can stand that long against Malefor even if he was playing with you. Good work."

The figure then turned back to the two dragons who were staring at him in shock and… FEAR? "I'm sorry Cynder this is going to hurt but I can't have you getting in the way of my retrieval of a specific arse." The figure then threw a stone at Cynder which landed in front of her. Cynder raised a scaly brow as she wondered what that was meant to do.

"Really? And what the hell was tha-", The corrupted dragon began but was quickly silenced as the stone began to glow brightly. Around Cynder, a circle of runes of the same make as the ones in the swirl appeared. Chains of pure light then wrapped themselves around the corrupted dragoness, tying her legs together and forcing her jaw suit as well as trapping Cynder's tail to her back. The dragoness then began to scream in pain although it was muffled as her jaw was trapped by the chains.

Malefor and Spyro stared at the trapped Cynder in horror, although for different reasons. Spyro was terrified for his friend. Even if she was corrupted they could break the control like last time she didn't need to die! Malefor however was currently going through the painful memories of that cave.

"It's you…", Malefor whispered in a mix of fear and anger.

The figure seemed to shrug his shoulders and walk towards the great dragon. Malefor was still frozen in his shock at seeing his captor again so soon. It wasn't supposed to go like this! He was supposed to have destroyed Warfang and have an army prepared for his attempt to capture. Now he has just about enough power to face the guardians and no army behind his back to save him! Malefor broke out of his trance just as the male brought out another two stones.

"Now Malefor.", The stranger began. "Before we do this, and I am certain we will since you won't give up, how did you get out? That prison was enchanted to keep you trapped until either 3 millennia had passed or you were finished. It has only been two years and you are clearly not done with the procedure so how did you escape?"

"…The chains just disappeared and I walked into an image of Warfang that appeared after a long while"

The figure's response was to turn his head to the side confused. "Huh? But that doesn't make any sense, it was supposed to… wait a minute" The stranger turned to Spyro who had stayed rooted to the spot staring at Cynder. "How long were you guy's unconscious? After the fight with Malefor."

Spyro turned back to the cloaked figure shocked. "Uhh we were told we were out for about a month."

"OH GOD DAMNIT! OF COURSE IT'S A FUCKING TIME DIFFERENCE! AND IT'S NOT JUST A FEW HOURS DIFFERENCE EITHER NOOO CAUSE YOU CANT MAKE IT EASY FOR ME CAN YA!" Why he started shouting at the sky was something neither dragon could explain. "-sigh- well nothing I can do now. Just gotta fix my mistake and Malefor's little spell."

The figure then threw another three stones at Malefor, of which two began to glow. In less than a second, the great and mighty Malefor was bound and gagged in a much worse state than Cynder. In addition to the chains there was a strange pendant that hung from around the dragons neck that looked eerily similar to the ones Spyro and Cynder wore whilst attempting to defeat Malefor. Then the final stone glowed as well, creating another swirl below the dragon which began to suck him in quickly.

"Great. Now that's dealt with what to do with you?" Spyro turned to the stranger to find him looking at Cynder who was still chained up. The figure snapped his fingers and the chains around the dragonesses muzzle disappeared whilst the remaining chains dimmed, which caused Cynder to stop screaming and pass out from the pain she felt.

"Stop! Don't touch her!", Spyro yelled and ran in-between Cynder and her captor. "She's not evil just corrupted. We can get rid of the magic just don't hurt her please!" The purple dragon was begging at this point for this stranger who easily captured Malefor and probably saved their hides in the centre of the world to not harm his best friend.

The male moved his hands to the top of his hood and pulled it down.

The face that was revealed showed a slight smile playing along it's features. The creature was unlike any Spyro had seen. It's face showed no fur except for the top of it's head which was covered in a mop of dark brown which was closer to the cheetahs fine fur. Two ears came from both sides of his face, unlike the cheetahs and alike to the apes except smaller. However the strangest thing of all was the few patches of black scales that formed on his face. His purple eyes that once shown with wrath now held fondness in them.

"No worries, I'm not going to hurt her. At least not more than is necessary." The thing then walked towards Spyro. "Look I've not got much time to explain this so I'm going to give you a very short explanation. I can remove the spell on her but it will take a bit and you won't be able to come with me. So I'm going to take her and bring her back. I promise I will give you a better explanation and answer your questions but for now, you should head home, get some rest and let me do my thing, got it?"

Spyro was unsure of what to do. A stranger appears, saves his life, captures Malefor with the same as was used to beat him in the core and now is going to take Cynder to some secluded location with only his word to back it up. He was suspicious, who wouldn't be this is his best friend we're talking about. But this guy knows how to break the spell while he only has a basic idea of having Cynder break it which didn't work.

After a few moments of hesitation, Spyro answered "Alright fine. But she better come back in one piece, got it?"

The smile came back on the creatures face as it replied "Absolutely. Cynder was the first person I properly met here so it would be preferable to have her around during my explanation. See ya round little drake." With that, the thing pulled out another stone and grabbed Cynder by a chain as another swirl took them, leaving a slightly confused Spyro on his own, hoping he made the right choice.

Spyro then spread his wings and flew off towards Warfang, ignoring the aches in his muscles from his previous death battle.

/TIME SKIP/

Warfang had just received Spyro once more, noting he looked worn out and his armour was battered. Those who saw the pair fly off also wondered where the demon was. Most dragons had assumed that Spyro had 'finally snapped out of her spell' and forced her out of the city. This assumption had led to multiple celebration plans that were not kept quiet.

Thankfully for them however, a certain purple dragon was not there to see it as he was in the middle of the guardians council hall, explaining what had happened.

"… Then the creature took her through that swirl thing and I came back."

Terrador was the first to speak after a second to digest the information. "Are you certain that giving Cynder to this stranger was the best choice? Anything could happen to her now and we wouldn't know."

"You think I don't know that? I don't like the idea any more than you do but we don't have a chance of bringing her back. You didn't see her Terrador. It was like looking at the 'terror of the skies' again."

"What I want to know is how she was corrupted again in the first place", Cyril began. "I thought any dark energy left over from Malefor was forced out of her system during the battle in the core."

Volteer chose this moment to offer his opinion. "I believe, assume, theorise that Cynder was unable to remove all traces of Malefor's magic and it grew back to what it was before which allowed Malefor to possess, manipulate, corrupt Cynder easily once more. And Terrador I agree with Spyro. We do not have the knowledge of how to de-corrupt Cynder. However I am incredibly interested on this new creature, humanoid, species you have discovered. AND a new magic as well. You will to tell me anything you left out later Spyro!"

"Volteer, I didn't leave anything out. I have said everything. So, what do we do now?", Spyro asked.

Terrador looked deep in thought for a few minutes before answering the young dragon. "Nothing. There isn't anything we can do. Malefor is locked up, this stranger seems to be fixing his mistake as we speak and Cynder is -supposedly- being de-corrupted now. All we really need to decide is if we tell Warfang about what happened. People will wonder where Cynder has gone."

Volteer then looked down sadly. "I'm afraid my old friend that not many will care of why she isn't here."

"He speaks sense, for once", said Cyril. "Most, if not all, of the dragon populace in the temple besides us see Cynder as the Terror. They will probably not ask questions and just make their own theories."

"We shouldn't tell them." The entire hall looked at Spyro in surprise. "If Warfang found out that Cynder was corrupted again then they will treat her worse than ignoring her or calling her names behind her back. We're not always around to keep her safe. Plus the problem has been dealt with. And we will get an explanation at some time. No need to panic the populace."

Even Volteer was surprised at these astute observations. They all made perfect sense and honestly it was the right call to make. The Guardians all agreed to Spyro's idea and sent Spyro to his room to rest. As they saw only a year ago, Malefor is not an opponent to be beaten without injuries or severe exhaustion.

As Spyro made his way through the temple's many corridors to sleep, it began to finally sink in that Cynder would be gone for an unknown amount of time. He would be alone walking to his classes, no one to laugh at old experiences with since Sparx was staying with their parents. No one to joke about with and no one to properly train with since the Guardians were busy with Warfang's restoration or classes. And worse of all, no one to keep Ember away. Spyro shuddered at the thought of attempting to deal with the fangirling dragon on his own.

As he reached his dorm and collapsed in his bed, one thought crossed his mind before he fell into unconsciousness.

'Hurry back Cynder, I need you here.'