I'll post chapters one through four (ya know to get to actual plot...sorry) before I get to an actual upload schedule. Again I only have through chapter nine, so I don't want to get too crazy with this whole putting out a whole bunch of chapters.
Now astute viewers may notice that this chapter is about a thousand words longer than the last. Trust me they do get longer from here. So far the max is 16-17,000 words.
Who is ready for the next chapter?
Cynder woke sprawled on the ground, glittering bits of amber crystal glittering on her hide. She raised her head gingerly and took in the trees around her. Long, soft grass tickled her underbelly as it waved in the wind, and a cool breeze washed over her prone form. The bright sun blinded her for a moment before it disappeared behind a thick dark cloud. The heat from the sunlight slowly absorbed into her scales and she couldn't help but relax. She took a deep breath in and then another. It was wonderful to taste air that wasn't tainted by fire or darkness or destruction. The Ancestors knew that she hadn't experienced that kind of air for a while. She was in a beautiful setting, she had just helped save the world, she had just admitted her feelings to Spyro, who was... not near her.
She jumped up looking around for the purple dragon. The crystal, as it had landed, had carved a massive trench in the earth that ended in a crater. The deep pit was filled with shattered bits of amber and a limp purple dragon. Cynder flew down into the pit and poked Spyro. "Spyro come on. Open your eyes!" The dragon lay still.
"Spyro this isn't funny. Please get up! SPYRO!" Cynder scratched him. She head butted him. She even bit his tail, but he didn't move.
In desperation Cynder shot a blast of fear in his direction. He didn't even twitch. She realized now that he wasn't breathing. He needed help.
Cynder wasn't electric so she couldn't start his heart that way. What she needed was a green crystal to fill him up with energy. She boosted herself out of the pit and ran as fast as she could into the trees. She scoured the woods for any crystals, red, green, even blue could have helped, and it almost seemed to be divine intervention when she found both a green and a red one only a few yards from the rim of the crater. She quickly destroyed them to release their magic faster but she still had to get it to Spyro. She took one in her paw, but it immediately absorbed into her skin and released its energy. She took a quick inventory, yet she found nothing that could help her. She was almost ready to give up when a gust of wind blew down through the thick leafy canopy above and pushed some of the crystal shards across the ground. Cynder now had an idea. Cynder inhaled, slowly expanding her lungs to their greatest capacity. Then, reaching for the last shreds of magic that she could find within herself she exhaled. The air accelerated as it curled around her tongue, creating a vortex as it left her mouth. She directed the swirling current of air to the glowing shards on the ground. They were pulled into the vortex and began swirling quickly up the current to her mouth. Quickly and carefully she trotted to the pit and released the vortex. The crystals seemed to fall in slow motion until they landed like fresh snow, coating Spyro's body. Cynder raced to his side waiting for him to wake up, but he just lay there the crystals covering him like armor. "Come on, wake up," she shouted close to tears. "Ancestors please, if you have any power... bring him back!" A solitary tear fell from her snout and landed directly on top of his head.
She waited and waited, and was about to give up hope when a crystal sank into his scales and disappeared. Another winked out and then another. They began to fade faster and faster until with one final burst of green light they all vanished. "Spyro?" She waited with baited breath until the purple dragon moaned. "Oh Spyro!" Cynder cried tackling him in a hug.
"I guess this proves it," the purple dragon mumbled through Cynder's embrace, "you always wake me up when bad things happen."
"Really," gasped Cynder in mock horror. "Like when?"
"You woke me up when you were leaving the temple before the apes attacked. You woke me when we came out of the first crystal, and then the golem tried to kill us. And finally you woke me now after we were almost killed."
"You better believe it. There is no other reason I'd ever want to wake you up," Cynder teased. Then her grin faded and she became more serious. "Spyro, do you remember what I said to you in the volcano?" Spyro thought back to that moment. He remembered Ignitus' voice and he could almost recall Cynder saying something as he was lifted off his feet by his own power.
I...
I..lo...u
I..lo...you
I love you!
Spyro turned to look at Cynder, opening his eyes at last to take in Cynder's green eyes and nervous body language. He stared at her and recalled all that they had experienced, both together and apart. He recalled their in depth discussions that dragged into the night and the burning feeling that arose beneath his stomach every time he looked into her emerald eyes. "I love you."
"Was that the answer or a declaration?" Cynder replied.
"Yes," was all Spyro said.
"Spyro," Cynder whispered curling up by her hero. "You wanted something else; well here I am." She lay her head on his shoulder and they stayed that way for a while.
"So..." Spyro said, breaking the peace of the evening. "Do you have any idea where we are?"
"I don't care," Cynder responded. "It doesn't matter where we are at the moment because we can sleep here!"
It was all that the dragons wanted to do. Spend most of a day lying together, enjoying their closeness and catching up on some much needed rest; it had only been five days since they had been freed from the crystal in the well of souls after all. In fact they could do it for longer than a day. A week, a month, a year? They didn't have to worry anymore. All was well.
"I would still appreciate a general location. Where are we?" Spyro looked at Cynder for confirmation.
Cynder shot him a look that said shut up stupid. "No, I didn't have much time to look around. I had to save your neck, and then you wanted to cuddle." She looked at the trees and the mountains around them. "If I had to guess I'd say we are close to, if not in the valley of the Avalar." Spyro nodded slowly, his eyes were glued to the horizon however.
"Good, there are plenty of caves in Avalar, and from the looks of those clouds we need to move. Now!" Slowly he worked to his feet, he stretched his wings, feeling the tendons pop after resting for so long after repeated use. "C'mon!" he shouted to Cynder then took off. She shook herself to wake herself up then rocketed into the sky after him.
She followed him at a distance and saw something that made her smile more than when he had admitted his love for her. Spyro was smiling and shouting with joy while flying in acrobatic loops and spins. He was enjoying life, something that she had never seen in him before. He looked free, with a huge weight off his shoulders. Cynder almost flew a mile before she realized that so did she. The dark master was gone, and he would never bring her under his control again. She was free, except the baggage from her past that she carried, but in the light of the setting sun that didn't even seem to matter. Perhaps now she could let it go.
Spyro looked back at his favorite dragoness, and saw her execute a quick loop. "Whoa," Spyro teased, "are you having fun back there; there will be no fun from you."
Cynder stuck out her tongue, but before she could retaliate with an insult of her own she thought she saw a suitable cave from the corner of her eye. She dove down to it knowing that Spyro would follow her, he always would.
It began to rain shortly after sunset that evening. Before that the little cave had seemed cosy and warm, but as night fell the cavern seemed to shrink. Both dragons had chosen spots on the dirt floor of the cave. The rain poured down like nothing they had ever seen. The dirt floor near the mouth of the cave quickly became muddy, and a few small cracks in the roof leaked more water until Spyro found himself cold, wet, and laying in a huge mud puddle. He tried using his Earth abilities to create a stone shelter above his head, but he wasn't anywhere near one hundred percent yet after using all of his power. All he could summon was a thin roof of dirt which melted quickly in the downpour.
He quickly looked around the rest of the cave for a new spot. He laughed to himself as he spotted Cynder on a dry island of soil near the back of the cave. He looked around, but the only place that was dry and would accommodate him after his recent growth spurt was where Cynder sat looking out at the rain washed valley. "Hey um Cynder, do you mind?"
Cynder looked up and took in the rain soaked floor and dripping dragon speaking to her. Then she realized what he was asking. "Er... um sure." Spyro wandered over to her out from under the leaking roof. He shook himself to try and dry off, but only managed to fling water onto Cynder.
"Nope go back," Cynder ordered, "you just lost your privilege to be dry."
Spyro only smiled and got closer.
"Don't get closer," Cynder said feigning anger, "or else I will use Fear on you to the point that you run screaming out into the rain."
Spyro called her bluff and just continued to get closer. He stood right in front of Cynder and grinned.
"Don't you dare!" Cynder spat. Spyro shook himself again. Water poured off of his scales and onto Cynder.
"I'll get you for that!" Cynder shrieked as she attempted to tackle Spyro, but unfortunately he side-stepped at the last second sending Cynder sprawling into the mud.
"That was easy," Spyro gloated playfully just before a glob of cold mud splattered across his face. "So that's how we are going to play."
Spyro charged at Cynder, and dove at her, but she nimbly dodged out of the way. Spyro was expecting this though, so he dragged his tail through the mud behind him sending a wide fan of mud in all directions, including directly into Cynder.
Without missing a beat Cynder leapt into the air and began manipulating the air currents around her until she was surrounded by a cyclone. Mud and water got caught up in the thick currents of air turning the grey sheets of wind brown and sticky. She charged at Spyro who had no chance of dodging.
As the tornado slammed into Spyro, it imploded covering both Spyro and Cynder in muck and throwing them into one of the many mud puddles that covered the cave floor. The purple dragon and the black dragon, now both brown, met each other's gazes and burst out laughing.
Spyro helped Cynder up, and then they both flew outside to wash the grime from their scales. Once they were clean, by Cynder's standards that is, they returned to their cave and dried off thanks to Spyro's Fire magic. In his depleted state he was only able to manage a weak blaze, but it was sufficient.
Cynder lay down on the admittedly smaller stripe of ground that was dry and motioned for Spyro to lay down next to her. He settled himself down next to her, but just couldn't get comfortable back to back. At least one limb stuck out into the mud no matter how they adjusted. Cynder grimaced, she didn't want it to have to come to this; they had only declared their love earlier that day. Although they were pretty close regardless. Besides it probably would seem nice after it happened. "Spyro, just quit and roll over."
"What!?"
"You heard me!"
"But won't it get awkward?" Not waiting for an answer he got up and turned around. He settled with his body curling around Cynder's with his right foreleg and wing draped over her side. Both dragons wouldn't admit it, but they were both extremely comfortable. They sat like that for a while listening to the rain pattering on the rocks and trees outside. Cynder was the first to break the silence.
"So, what happens now."
Spyro had to think for a moment. "I don't know," he stated simply. "It's odd," he continued, "not to have a prophecy, or a guardian or you or Sparx telling me what to do next. It's not that I can't think for myself, but it feels weird not to have a goal for once." Cynder shivered, and he was struck by a brilliant idea. He let his inner fire build within him, but he didn't let it out. His belly quickly grew warm, hot even. Cynder snuggled closer reveling in the warmth. "I expect that at some point we're going to have to go back to Warfang and tell them we're alive, but I think we deserve to have a few weeks to ourselves first. If anything I want to recover in a safe place before heading out. It will be admittedly safer without Malefor's monsters walking around, but he didn't create them all. Avalar is safe enough, we can rest here. It will be just like a vacation."
"What happens after we go to Warfang? What then?" asked Cynder.
"Well I guess we could continue training and see what is left to do. We could also eventually settle down. Start a family." He set his head down on the soft soil that they were sleeping on.
Cynder however didn't join him. Start a family? That thought hadn't even occurred to her. Of course she had been living the past week with death looming over her. Did she want a family? Yes. The tingle she felt in her stomach told her as much.
Spyro sat back up, concerned that Cynder hadn't lay her head down. He listened for any possible danger, and hearing nothing he turned to Cynder. "Are you okay?"
Cynder looked at him and smiled. "I'm fine. I just had to think about what came next. I'm ready for whatever comes next." Satisfied, Spyro lay back down. He smiled when she lay next to him and smiled even more when she whispered his new favorite three words. He answered in response "I love you!"