Hello everyone. As promised here is chapter five. I've been in a bit of a writing funk lately, so It might take me a while to get the next chapter out.

On another note, thanks everyone. We hit the 800 view mark last night. Yay! As always I would love to hear from you guys. Any questions, comments, concerns. Lay it on me. Thanks and enjoy the show.

The sun had just come up; peeking up over both the horizon and the tall walls of Warfang. Both dragons were still fast asleep, tangled up underneath the blanket of Spyro's wings.

As the sun crept along the ground and up onto Spyro's vibrant scales, the purple dragon felt himself return to consciousness. He cracked open an eyelid and blinked as the sun almost completely blinded him. He yawned, and was about to stretch when he felt the still sleeping Cynder snuggle into his chest.

Spyro just relaxed back into her, and relished the warmth and the comfort of just being there on the bed with her. It didn't last long however, as he soon heard a familiar voice calling down the hall.

"Spyro," Sparx yelled jiggling the doorknob, "the guardians say that they need to talk to you." Sparx abandoned the doorknob and flitted underneath the door. Spyro saw a little golden head poke out from underneath the door. "Hey man get up, if you hustle you might be able to get breakfast first. Oh, and can you wake Cynder for me? They want to talk to her too." Sparx hovered over his brother and was about to continue when he took in the scene on the bed.

Sparx didn't understand at first. "Dude did you gain like four hundred pounds since last night?" He had mistaken Cynder's body for Spyro as she lay sleeping under his wing. At his comment however she rolled over and grumbled slightly. Sparx watched with wide eyes. "If that's your stomach you've got serious problems dude." This second comment woke Cynder, and even from underneath Spyro's wing she could make out his bright golden glow and hear his high tinny voice.

"If the bug doesn't shut up, I'm going to crush him like the gnat he is; got it?" Cynder growled loud enough to be heard by the dragonfly still turning circles over the bed. He stopped cold in the air. Cynder smiled, as it looked as if the little fly had hit a pane of glass. She pushed her head out from under Spyro's wing to get a better look. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Spyro blushing furiously, but she was too busy watching Sparx try to put two words together.

His mouth opened and closed several times giving him the look of a fish pulled from the water. He closed his mouth, swallowed, and finally was able to get his words out. "Cynder? Spyro were you aware that Cynder was there?" His voice came out higher than usual, and it cracked a bit, but at least they could understand him.

Spyro shot Sparx a withering look. "Yes Sparx, I know Cynder is here. She came to talk to me last night, and she got locked out of her room. I invited her to sleep in here."

"Yeah, but in the bed with you? I mean wouldn't the floor have been perfectly fine." Sparx gasped as another alternative popped into his mind. "Did you two mate?" This time both Spyro and Cynder blushed. "Dude," Sparx continued, "I get sleeping near her with the whole chain situation and everything, but now that you're free why are you still sticking around that... creature."

Sparx must have known that he had crossed a line, because he stopped talking. But it was far too late then. Cynder felt a surge of heat from Spyro's belly, and felt her scales stand on end as a charge of electricity zipped down his spine. "Sparx, may I speak to you in the hallway. Now!" Spyro's voice echoed slightly and it was a touch deeper. Cynder began to feel nervous, as that change only happened when he was channeling convexity, or when he was channeling darkness.

Sparx turned pale and flew out into the hall. Spyro turned to Cynder, and she braced for him to unleash an angry rant, but when he spoke to her his voice was tender and loving. "I'm sorry about that. I'll go straighten him out. You could stay here or you could go down to breakfast." He nuzzled her cheek, then stepped off of the bed and out into the hallway.

Sparx was leaning against the wall looking bored when Spyro walked out. Immediately the dragonfly perked up and began to talk. "Hey man good to see you. I gotta thank you for creating a situation that would let me leave. I have no problem speaking my mind, but it got awkward in there really quick." Spyro wasn't sure which made him angrier; the fact that Sparx was being horrible to Cynder, or that he seemed oblivious to Spyro's rage. "I do gotta say though, you overdid it with the whole 'may I speak with you in the hallway' thing. I mean your voice got all echoey and she might catch on to what we're doing out here."

"And what are we doing out here?" Spyro growled. Almost anyone who knew Spyro probably could have realized that Sparx was treading on dangerous ground, but Sparx wasn't really paying attention to his brother.

"We're trying to figure out how to ditch that demon in dragon form. I think we should..." but Spyro never found out what Sparx thought they should do because at that moment Spyro's fury slipped from his control, and for a moment a wall of the true power of the purple dragon exploded down the hallway. Sparx found himself on the ground, pinned beneath the paws of his adopted brother. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, what's up?"

"Sparx, you need to shut up for once in your life and listen. I love Cynder. She is my best friend, and perhaps even more. I love her and I will not have you insult her in front of me!"

Despite his predicament, Sparx couldn't hold his tongue. "Why her? How could you fall in love with the creature that tried to kill you several times? What is wrong with you Spyro?" Spyro's eyes flared a darker shade of purple, and for a moment his power slipped free again. Sparx felt as though the air pressure had doubled, and gravity had quadrupled. For an instant he thought he would be crushed by the weight.

When he answered, Spyro's voice was slow, and dangerously quiet. "She has saved my life more times than she ever endangered it. She was the only person who believed in me by choice; not because of a prophecy, or because they were related to me, but because she made her own DAMN CHOICE. She didn't have to stay at the dragon temple as long as she did. She didn't have to attack Gual to save me but she did. We mutually needed each other, and that need eventually evolved into something else. Sparx, I love Cynder with all of my heart, and all of my soul. And if you can't accept that... then I don't want to be your brother anymore." Spyro walked away leaving Sparx to peel himself off of the floor.

•••

Cynder walked downstairs to breakfast with a spring in her step, and with her heart feeling swollen in her chest. She had only heard parts of Sparx and Spyro's conversation; she had even felt the kick of power as Spyro lost control. She didn't think it was fair what he was doing to Sparx, but then again Sparx didn't like her.

Her relationship with Sparx had always been difficult. In the five days after they were released from the crystal, Sparx had shown more trust than she thought she could expect of the little gnat. He had asked after her health after battles, and had located crystals for her to help her heal. He had provided light when she was exploring dark areas, and he had even distracted certain enemies as she recovered from a grueling blow. It had all culminated when Sparx had begged her to take care of Spyro in the burned lands. Of course now that she thought about it Spyro could have asked him to do all of that, and she was the only one able to look after him within the burned lands. In that moment she remembered all of the horrible things that he had done to her in the past. When she had first arrived at the temple, Sparx had almost begged the guardians to throw her out, and she knew they would have had Spyro and Ignitus not intervened. He had almost spoiled her plan to get Spyro, Sparx, and herself off of the pirate ship taking them to Gaul. And when they had first met Hunter, Sparx had bad mouthed her almost immediately. The darker part of her mind almost wanted Spyro to get rid of him.

She tried to shake off these thoughts as she reached the bottom of the third set of narrow, steep, stone steps that she had encountered since leaving her room. Each flight of steps had switched back and led to another long corridor with several wooden doors on both sides. When her curiosity got the better of her Cynder peeked into one of the rooms. It was a small bedroom almost exactly identical to the one she had shared with Spyro. She wondered why the temple had so many rooms. Not including Ignitus she was only aware of five living dragons. With only that many, and with little chance to reproduce, why did the temple have hundreds of rooms?

"Miss Cynder?" As the tiny voice spoke Cynder quickly pulled her head out of the room, and slammed the door guiltily. She looked around and saw a small mole standing at the end of the corridor. "Miss, the guardians were wondering why you and Mr. Spyro were late. They sent me to check up on you." He paused then looked at his feet. "I would also like to apologize for my father's behavior on the wall yesterday. My brother too. I was born after Spyro freed you, and so my judgment isn't clouded by the memories of your raids. I recognize what you sacrificed for us and I thank you." The little mole quickly turned red after his speech. He tried to say more, but he simply closed his mouth and licked his lips nervously. But perhaps it was good, because Cynder was equally speechless.

Cynder was touched. She had never wanted the spotlight that seemed to permanently shine on Spyro, but it was nice to be recognized for what she did to help him. She was also glad that the mole had apologized for his family. She assumed that his father and brother had been the ones to shoot the net and the crossbow, and despite the fact that nobody had been harmed she still felt that she deserved an apology. "Thank you Mr..." she paused when she realized that she didn't know the little mole's name.

"Mortimer," the mole provided without missing a beat.

"...Mortimer," Cynder continued, "thank you for the apology. I would be honored if you would lead me to breakfast. Then could you go and get Spyro; he stayed behind to talk to Sparx alone and if I couldn't find the dining hall he definitely won't. He is so absent minded sometimes." Cynder chuckled to herself as she remembered when Spyro had gotten lost in the Valley of the Avalar.

•••

The cave where Meadow told them the hermit lived was impossible to find. Cynder was convinced that it didn't exist and that it was just a delusion that the wounded cat had made up in desperation.

"Come on," Spyro said cheerily, " it has to be around the next bend. He said the cave was by the river." Spyro began a long loping bound that carried him great distances across the plain. He would leap off the ground and glide until he hit the ground again. It was definitely more efficient than both flying and walking.

Cynder was loping after him, but she knew that something was wrong. Meadow had told them that the cave was along the river, and that they would turn off from river to find it. Spyro's route would force them to follow the river. She didn't think that they should be going to where the river ended. In fact she was fairly certain that they had already passed the hermit's cave. "Spyro!" she called as the purple dragon's tail whipped around the corner of a boulder at the bend in the river. Her concentration lapsed for a second, and she immediately lost her rhythm and tripped before entering the next bound.

Her front legs crossed and tangled as her back legs slammed into the hard packed earth. She dug in her forepaws to halt her forward motion, but they just acted like a hinge. Her momentum threw her in a somersault over her front legs and onto her back. Cynder quickly snapped her wings closed so she wouldn't damage them. She did several more rolls before she could stop herself, and her tumble had taken her past the narrow canyon of rock that Spyro had disappeared down. Carefully Cynder picked herself up from the crumpled heap she had ended up in and carefully examined her body for injury.

Overall, she had escaped relatively unscathed despite having taken the tumble at high speed in a rocky environment. She had a few minor scrapes and bruises along her back and legs, but she had a deeper cut along her belly. Both of her wings were in tatters, but those would heal so quickly as to be of no consequence. She had done her best to tuck her head as she rolled, so she knew that there were few wounds on her neck, although her head was another matter. Her ears were ringing and she felt light headed, so she instantly knew that her head had struck at least one rock. Judging from the pain and confusion she felt, she might have had a moderate concussion. She swallowed, and then immediately spat in disgust. Most of the liquid in her mouth was blood. She hazily remembered her snout bashing a good sized stone, so she figured that she had bitten her tongue and, judging by the blood on her lips, broken her nose.

The pain hit her an instant later, and despite her tough exterior she couldn't help but cry out in pain. "Thspyro!" She spat out another glob of blood and tried again. "Spyroth!" She silently cursed herself, but then the purple dragon turned the corner.

At first Spyro didn't understand Cynder's plight. The blood dripping down her face blended almost perfectly into her scales. "Cynder? What's wrong? Come on I think I found the cave, but..." he paused as he got closer and finally realized what was wrong. "Oh my gosh, Cynder what happened." Spyro was breathing heavily and sounded close to panic. It seemed that he panicked anytime she got hurt. He could have a horrible wound and he would tough it out, but if she got as much as a gash he would panic.

"Sthpyro I'mb find," Cynder tried, but Spyro was already in panic mode.

"What can we do? What can we do?! WHAT CAN WE DO?! We could set it, but... no that wouldn't work. I could... no that might hurt you. I know we could go back and... no they don't trust us." The purple dragon paced as he tried to think of a solution to the problem, but when his path took him near Cynder he felt a strong pain in the back of his head.

"Spyro listen to me," Cynder raised her tail and struck Spyro again, but on his right foreleg this time. He jumped back and looked at her. Cynder tried to lick her lips, but her tongue still hurt to move and her lips were still coated in blood. "Could you help me a bit with my tongue?" Cynder snapped. She still had a slight lisp, but with great amounts of concentration she was able to keep it under control. Carefully she opened her mouth wide for Spyro.

Warily the young dragon looked into Cynder's mouth and almost immediately flinched back with the sight of her tongue. In a different situation Cynder might have laughed; despite all of the enemies he had killed, Spyro was apparently still squeamish. Rolling her eyes Cynder gestured him closer. He peered into her mouth where, contrasted from the pink skin of her palate and throat, her tongue stood out blood red with a clean bite mark halfway down that cut nearly through the tissue. "What do you want me to do?"

Cynder almost cried out in frustration and pain. Almost against her will she whimpered "ice" and then cried as the word caused a bolt of pain as well as blood to fill her mouth. Spyro's mouth set in a hard line. He stepped up to where Cynder sat with her mouth open and pushed his muzzle right up next to hers. Placing his lips on hers to get the best seal possible he suddenly filled their mouths with sub-zero temperatures that immediately took away all of the pain she was feeling.

Later they would both recognize it as their first kiss.

"Thankth you," Cynder almost groaned. The numbness caused by the cold coupled with the swelling of the tongue made her lisp even worse. "Spyroth, I remember theeing a wed cwythtal back up the wivew a wayth. Could you help me'th?" Cynder hoped that the red crystal could fix this petty wound, because despite its lack of severity it still was extremely debilitating. Cynder grimaced at the horrid feel of having blood run down her throat from both her tongue and nose. "I can'th fly buth I donth think it'th too faw." Cynder cursed silently to herself.

They began to trudge back following the river, but they had to stop constantly so Cynder could rest. The bruises on her back and legs as well as the cut on her belly hurt her whenever she moved, and each cut would tear open a little more with every movement. If that wasn't enough it seemed that every time they stopped at least one of Malefor's little creatures would decide that now was the perfect time to attack. Spyro would quickly dispatch them, especially as his rage powered up his attacks, but it was almost noon before they made it to where Cynder had seen the crystal.

A hollow log bridged the tributary, running parallel to the main river. Cold waters rained down from a high cliff to flow underneath the log and join the main flow of water. To the side of the waterfall was a strip of thin marshy land that led to the base of the cliff where a cluster of red crystals sprouted from the cliff face.

At first Cynder just wanted to cry. The crystal she was looking at was much smaller than she had remembered. But on second thought she believed that she might be able to make it work. Usually, she reasoned, I would only need a full crystal when my wounds were numerous or life threatening. Perhaps with these simple wounds a tiny crystal would work.

Not wanting to waste another second, Cynder smashed the crystals as hard as she could with her tail blade. They instantly shattered, and each tiny shard began to glow. She watched as the little bits of rock wound around her body and coated each wound as they encountered them. It only took a minute for them to fix her. Her nose snapped back into place, her tongue shrunk back to its normal size, and each bruise and cut faded almost instantly.

It was only once she was healed that Cynder realized that something was off. There was something odd about the crystal base. There was a symbol etched into the hard rock at the base. It looked a bit like a paw print. Tentatively Cynder reached a paw out and placed it directly on the symbol and pushed. There was a loud rumbling sound as the wall began to shake, and the wall behind the waterfall moved aside. Spyro and Cynder grinned at each other.

"Well see, if you hadn't hurt yourself we never would have found that cave. Good job Cynder!" Spyro didn't care what happened, he thought it was funny despite the fact that Cynder smacked him. Together the entered the hermit's cave.

•••

Cynder could almost still feel the pain of the torn tongue and broken nose. This feeling was intensified when she ran into the wall. Cynder backed up from the stone wall quickly and felt tears reflexively fill her eyes as a bolt of blinding pain shot through her nose. "Mortimer," she gasped, "you could have warned me." Cynder looked around. Her musings had blinded her on her walk down with Mortimer, so now she was truly in a place she didn't recognize. They were in a low corridor and the walls, unlike the walls on the floors above, were not covered in beautiful carvings. These were just solid blocks of coarse grey stone. There were fewer doors leading off this corridor, and the few doors here were so small Cynder doubted that even a baby dragon could fit through them.

Cynder was just about to open one of the tiny doors, and stick her head in out of curiosity, when the door behind her suddenly opened and Mortimer stuck his pencil thin nose into the corridor where Cynder waited. "Mistress Cynder, what seems to be the problem?" Cynder raised an eyebrow and looked at the door. Mortimer looked at the tiny wooden door he had just emerged from and finally figured out the problem. "Oh forgive me Miss. Cynder, but it is not often that we have many dragons down here. The guardians prefer to have the food sent to the main hall so they can eat standing up." The mole chuckled heartily. "One moment Miss." The small mole dove back in through the short doorway and closed the door behind him. Cynder sat as she waited for another door to open. She sat staring at the the wooden door in the otherwise solid slab of rock. Then it changed.

It wasn't the most noticeable change, but Cynder's keen eyes could see the subtle change in the wall. It was now no longer a solid slab of rock; instead a thin crack shot from floor to ceiling and part of the wall jutted out slightly. Suddenly a shrill screech split the air and, despite years of conditioning her senses, Cynder covered her ears. The screech continued on as the wall buckled even more, a block pushing out away from the solid sheet. As the cracks around it widened and light from the other side began to spill into the hall, Cynder realized what the slab truly was. The moles were opening a hidden stone door so she could enter the kitchen.

As the door reached forty five degrees, Cynder could see five moles pushing it with all of their strength. As it swung neatly past forty five degrees all of the moles backed off in one practiced movement. The door must have been perfectly weighted because it threw itself all the way open allowing Cynder to enter the kitchen. And what a kitchen it was.

The room was perfectly circular, and Cynder would have guessed that at least two of the corridors that she had just walked down could fit length-wise across the room. Low stone countertops ringed the room except for where four doorways entered. Polished wood tables filled the remaining floor space, except for where a foot tall ring of stones outlined a fire pit where a huge boar roasted. Moles bustled from table to table cooking and preparing complex dishes.

As Cynder entered the kitchen she heard the heavy stone door slam into

the wall of the corridor and, because it was perfectly weighted, swing neatly back into place. As the door nearly closed on her tail, Cynder discovered the beautiful carvings on the inside. The door she had entered had what was clearly a dragon egg at the bottom, and shooting out from it was a perfect lighting bolt that rocketed into the clouds above. Cynder could almost see the carved clouds rolling. What made it the most beautiful in Cynder's opinion were the thousands of chunks of faintly glowing amber that made up the bolt. Looking around the room she saw a ruby inferno around a fire drake's egg, a sapphire blizzard swirling around a white egg, and a tall emerald tree with wind flowing through its branches all growing out of… two green eggs. One covered in black swirls, and the other with white. Cynder felt a rush in her stomach when she saw an amethyst egg with a supernova of pure power burning around it on the ceiling.

"Beautiful aren't they." Mortimer stood right next to Cynder, taking in her gaping jaw with a slight chuckle. "When this building was first constructed each guardian insisted that they needed a team of moles to help them carve those images. It took all four teams to construct the one in the ceiling. Some say that they are prophecies for important dragons across the ages. Personally I don't believe it." Cynder shivered at the thought of another prophecy and quickly changed the subject.

"Why are are you preparing so much food?" Cynder gestured vaguely to the boar on the spit. "There are only," she did a quick headcount, "about thirty moles here and, including me, only five dragons. Why do we need that much plus those other dishes?"

Mortimer looked at her sadly. "This war took a toll on Warfang. Many homes and businesses were destroyed, and that put many citizens on the street. Everyday we cook a vast amount of food and give it to those in need." Cynder felt a rush of guilt as he said that. Surely it was Spyro and her presence in the city that incited the attack. Of course it seemed that the city was under attack before they arrived. Cynder wasn't sure. "Here Miss. If you sit here Agatha will get you some food, and I'll go and get Spyro for you." Mortimer changed the subject before either of them got too upset. He steered her towards a higher than average table near the central fire pit. He bowed as he left and Cynder felt a surge of affection for the small mole.

"Hello sweetie," the voice was warm and soothing, like hot tea on a cold day, "what can I get you?" Cynder focused her attention on a rather round mole in a white hat that stood between the table and the fire.

Strangely a feeling of fear was Cynder's first sensation. Throughout her life she hadn't really had much of a choice in anything. As soon as she'd been born she had been forced into a side of this war. Once Spyro had freed her she had chosen to leave the temple, but she had messed that up. Then she had been chained to Spyro as they fought in the end of the war. After all this time even a mundane choice of food stressed her out. "Er... what can I have?" She grimaced as the words left her mouth.

Agatha raised an eyebrow behind the thick golden glasses that her kind preferred, and in a rather confused sounding voice answered her sweetly. "Honey you can have anything you want."

Encouraged by the sweet tone Cynder cast around for something that looked good. As she looked; she found her eyes and nose returning to the roasting meat that filled the center of the room. "May I have some of that?" Cynder asked meekly. The mole nodded and ordered two other moles to cut a slab of the meat away from the bones.

It took all three moles to bring the platter over to Cynder. Up close the scent of roasting meat was intoxicating. She could almost feel her mouth filling with saliva as the tray was brought closer. The moles set it in front of her, and she could almost hear her stomach gurgle. She was about to take a huge bite of the meat when a sudden thought struck her. A comment that Mortimer had made bounced around her head. "Everyday we cook a vast amount of food and give it to those in need." Cynder looked at the meat on her plate. It seemed to her like a larger than average portion, and she wondered if eating it would force some mole in the city to go hungry. These moles were loyal to the guardians and, since she was an honored guest of theirs, they might have been instructed to give her whatever she wanted. The last thing she wanted was to take food from someone in need; she had played the villain far too long.

Cynder pushed the platter away from herself and said in answer to Agatha's questioning look, "I just realized that I'm not hungry." Her stomach growled rebelliously, and a rebel drop of saliva dribbled from the corner of her mouth.

Agatha moved closer to Cynder and in a firm, yet still sweet tone asked, "What's wrong honey?"

Cynder shrugged. "Nothing I'm just..." Something in the older mole's expression stopped the lie before it crossed through her lips. "Alright. Mortimer told me that this food goes to those who are without homes in the city because of the war. I didn't want to take food from those people." Cynder felt a warm feeling blossom in her chest as the chef in front of her smiled.

"Is that what this is about? Oh sweetie that is the sweetest thing I have ever heard. However only some of this food goes out to the moles on the street. Some is saved for the staff, the guardians, and any guests they might have. The meat you're eating will come out of the guardian's share." The chef carefully looked around before continuing. "And, not to insult you honey, but I'm not sure many others would eat meat that you left for them. They might think you were trying to poison them."

Cynder's eyes grew wide. "But I wouldn't..."

"I know you wouldn't," Agatha interrupted, "I know you're the hero the guardians say you are. My son was the one manning the cannon during The Siege of Warfang. I'm just saying that we should keep this between us."

Relief evident in her eyes, Cynder took a big bite out of the slab of meat on the table. It was as good as it smelled. Exotic and more mundane spices danced across her tongue as the perfectly marinated pork seemed to melt on her tongue. She smiled and gushed to Agatha. "This is the best food I've ever had!" The mole blushed and said it was nothing, but Cynder could tell that she was secretly proud of her craft and of Cynder's praise. As Cynder ate, she tried to make small talk with Agatha, but again it wasn't something she had any practice with.

Thankfully the conversation was cut short as Spyro walked in through the electricity doors. There was a pause as the entrance of the purple dragon registered with the moles. Then almost an instant later a spattering of applause broke out among the front row of moles, and the sound was quickly spreading backwards. In no time at all every mole was applauding the purple dragon loudly and with plenty of enthusiasm. Cynder even joined in. Spyro had had a tough few years, and he deserved some recognition of his sacrifice.

Spyro looked around the room, but unlike Cynder he didn't seem to be fascinated by the carvings on the walls and ceilings, or by the moles or furniture in the room. He was only focused on her. Calmly he crossed the busy kitchen and walked over to where she was sitting and plopped himself down next to her. He politely asked Agatha for breakfast and as she turned her back to tend to the boar Spyro quickly pulled Cynder into a hug. Cynder was surprised, but hugged him back. "I love you," he whispered. He would never admit it, but Cynder knew that the whole Sparx thing was hard on him; she felt a tug of guilt as she realized that she was the one who made it hard. "Thank you for being my friend," he continued pulling her tighter. Cynder hugged him tightly back and they probably would have stayed like that for a while had they not both heard an awkward little cough.

Both dropped their wings from around each other's shoulders and blushed as they saw Agatha grinning behind the table. "Don't mind me, but Spyro has to eat and get to his meeting with the guardians." As if to punctuate her sentence Agatha slapped another platter of meat on the table. Spyro blushed deeper and snapped up his breakfast in two bites. Cynder wasn't sure he even tasted it.

Cynder looked down at her own plate, and found that her own breakfast was nearly gone. She snapped her's up quickly too, but savored every bite. Agatha took their plates as soon as they were finished and took them over to a basin of hot water. Spyro looked at Cynder pitifully. "I probably should go and talk to the guardians, but I don't want to get up. I'd rather stay here with you."

Cynder rolled her eyes at him. "I think you should go. I'm going to see if they have a library." Spyro grinned at her. "Do you know where it is?" she asked looking around the vast kitchen for Mortimer.

"No. Mortimer told me earlier that the audience chamber is just outside those red doors, but he didn't tell me where the library is. Although I bet Mortimer would take you." Spyro smiled and nuzzled Cynder's cheek. "I gotta go. I'll see you at lunch and then you get to go in there and face the guardians." Spyro hopped down from the table and cautiously made his way to the door of fire. Cautiously he pushed it open and crossed the threshold. Impulsively he looked back at Cynder and winked, and in the last moment before the door shut behind him Spyro could have sworn that he saw a grimace pass over Cynder's face.

On the other side of the door was a small round antechamber that was just large enough for the huge stone doors to swing open. On the other side of the room was a wide arch that led to a steep, tight spiral staircase. Mortimer had told him that the guardians would meet him in their audience chamber, which interestingly enough was directly above the kitchen on top of the purple mural.

Spyro wasn't concerned about facing the guardians, in fact he was rather looking forward to confronting them.

It had taken a while for the truth to sink in, but it wasn't until he was in the middle of the burned lands still feeling the sting of the loss of Ignitus that he realized how the guardians had done him wrong.

At the top of the steep swirling stairs, a huge multicolored door barred access to the room beyond. Upon closer study Spyro saw that it was a combination of the four doors in the kitchen. The top left corner was studded with bits of amber, and depicted a huge lightning bolt. The top right showed a huge trio of icicles picked out in stunning sapphires. The lower left corner showed a huge emerald tree surrounded by a nimbus of green energy, and the lower right was a raging inferno filled with millions of blazing rubies. In the center where both doors fit together without a seam, all four colors mixed in a chaotic yet beautiful spiral that encased an engraving of what appeared to be two dragons; one picked out in what appeared to be fury crystal, and the other picked out in light purple, almost pink, planet crystal. Off task Spyro briefly wondered where the mole artists had gotten fury and planet gems, but he snapped back to focus almost immediately. With a start, Spyro realized that the carving was supposed to be him and Malefor. Instead of being awed or calmed by the beautiful door, it only made the young dragon madder. It only helped show how the guardians had wronged him. Both of the carved dragons glowed brightly. They were arranged in a way that looked extremely similar to a yin-yang symbol with one dragon's head right next to the other's tail.

There were no seams or visible hinges on the door and Spyro briefly wondered how he would possibly open the door. Gingerly he knocked on the thick door with his tail. He waited at the door, and suddenly he felt it. Electricity snapped across his tongue, his scales became covered with frost, and a clean fresh wind played across his face and filled his wings. All four colors on the wall began to glow brighter until all four corners blazed with intense light. As he watched the colors began to bleed together, each one slipping into the next until the entire glow was a vibrant violet. The purple light swirled and shrank as it slowly sank into the two carved dragons in the center. When the light was contained only in the carved circle where the two dragons were, and blazed out like a laser, the door cracked between the two dragons and slowly swung inward.

Spyro didn't waste a moment worrying, he stormed into the audience hall without a second thought. "Hello young dragon, how are you?" Terrador smiled at the young dragon as he waited for a response. The grin faded as Spyro scowled at him. "Er... yes, we have asked you to come because..."

"Let me stop you there," Spyro growled, "I'm only here because someone asked me to be, if I had my own way I'd still be in the wilderness with Cynder." All of the guardians looked at each other. They had never seen Spyro this angry.

Volteer was the first one to say something. "Spyro why are you angry, affronted, annoyed, antagonized, cross, displeased, enraged?"

Spyro whirled around to face him. When he spoke his voice was a pained sort of whisper. "You knew."

Terrador became nervous because he had some idea what Spyro was talking about. He tried to feign innocence. "Knew what Spyro?"

"You knew about the prophecy. You knew and you never told me!" Spyro wasn't as angry anymore; his feelings were past anger. He was crushed and completely disappointed in the guardians, his role models.

Cyril, with his cold voice, answered dismissively. "Would knowing have made your battle easier? Would it have made you more powerful? The answer is no. You didn't need to know in order to save the world, and us not telling you saved you from a lot of stress."

"You had no right to determine what I should and shouldn't hear! I could have died because I didn't know about a piece of the prophecy!" Spyro's voice became deeper as his rage began to build, and power began to shine through his scales.

"Spyro, we are truly sorry." Terrador had to shout to be heard over the rush of energy that Spyro was channeling. He needed to calm Spyro down or else he would destroy the temple and quite possibly the city. "Ignitus wanted to tell you, but we voted him down. He wanted to tell you the truth, but we felt that the truth might scare you away from your destiny. I guess... I guess we just never thought of you as a person; we only saw you as means to an end. It was only after you lived with us for a while that we realized what or rather who you were. We were going to tell you, but then the apes attacked the temple and you left for that tree you saw in your vision. Again Spyro I truly am sorry."

Spyro sat for a moment digesting the information. Slowly ever so slowly the storm of purple light that had been building around Spyro began to slow and fade. He accepted their argument as a valid reason, although not forgivable. Spyro allowed his power to completely fade as he asked another question. "And what about Cynder?"

This time Cyril spoke first, trying to play innocent. "What about Cynder?" he asked.

Spyro growled deep in his throat. "I'm losing my patience. You know exactly what I mean. Why were you guys so horrible and mean to her if you knew she was part of this?"

Terrador hung his head, and Spyro was surprised to see that he was ashamed. "I'm so sorry Spyro, it is completely my fault. I guess I just... I didn't believe that she was the love from the prophecy. We all imagined a virtuous, pure dragoness who would fall for you. The last thing we wanted was a black, twisted, creature that could potentially return to the dark master. I was bitter and didn't trust her. It was one of the things that Ignitus and I always used to argue about. I guess he was just a better father than I am."

Spyro actually took a step back as Terrador said this. "Did you just say that you're-"

"Anyway," Cyril interrupted, "may we ask a question now, the one that we actually called this meeting for?" Spyro wasn't ready to let the matter drop, but he reluctantly nodded anyway. "You said that someone told you to come to Warfang. Who?"

Spyro couldn't help but grin. "Ignitus."

"Why isn't Ignitus here? Why didn't he return with you?" Volteer gave Spyro a funny look.

"Because he died," he said without thinking. Only when Spyro saw the shocked and confused expressions on the three remaining guardians did he realize what he had said. "Sorry, he died taking us through the ring of fire, but it's okay. He's the new Chronicler." Spyro continued to grin happily at the guardians until a thought struck him. "He also might have mentioned something about being my father."

Terrador couldn't help but copy the little dragon's grin. "With how close you two were we were surprised that you didn't figure it out sooner."

Spyro cocked his head. "I wonder why he didn't tell me." He muttered this more to himself than anything. Terrador heard however and he couldn't just let the dragon stew.

"Spyro, he didn't tell you because he didn't want to hurt you or him if one of you died. I also think he wanted to wait for you to be free of your destiny before he admitted it to you. Spyro you should know that Ignitus never doubted that you would survive. Well your mother and him both." Terrador saw Spyro open his mouth to ask another question but he waylaid him. "Your mother is still alive, and she is rather close. Her name is Amperia and she is one of the most beautiful electricity dragonesses in existence."

"Well I'll tell her you said that," Volteer chuckled. "I can't wait to see the look on Gaia's face when she hears that. Blizzard would love that!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Who are you talking about? Your mates? Are they even still alive?" Spyro looked from one laughing dragon to the next. "Are you telling me that there are more dragons out there?"

"Of course they're still alive, Malefor only cared about getting rid of the next generation of dragons, and even then he didn't get all of them." Terrador regarded the young dragon and slowly nodded. "They are actually quite close; in the other dragon temple. See the night of the raid each of us made it out with two of our eggs, more or less. Ignitus grabbed you first and another of his eggs, but he accidentally dropped the other somewhere in the swamp." Terrador looked at Spyro sadly. "In the extreme cold it would have gone into a hibernation, and by now it would take an extraordinary amount of power to awaken it. Cyril and Volteer both made it out with two; a boy and a girl. Ignitus didn't want to make the rest of our families a target, so he didn't send you with them. He sent you down the river hoping that someone would find you."

Spyro thought he knew the answer already but he had to be sure. "And you?"

Terrador hung his head sadly. "Gaia, my mate made it out with one egg, but I can't help but blame myself for the egg I failed to rescue. Cynder's egg."

Spyro didn't know what to say. Neither apparently did the other guardians. Spyro couldn't help but wonder if they were hearing the story for the first time as well.

Cyril broke the silence first. His voice was the warmest that Spyro had ever heard. "Terrador remember; Cynder turned out fine. And besides Gaia saved Summer. Don't just focus on the muddy things!" The blue dragon refocused his attention on Spyro. "Spyro I know you must have another million questions, but right now we need to know what Ignitus told you to tell us. What do you know about those black crystals?"

•••

Sparx flew through the city of Warfang haphazardly. His lilliputian form slipped between buildings and moles as tears streamed down his face. He saw the city gates ahead and realized that he had hit a dead end. He quickly ducked into an alley and collapsed against the wall.

"How could he do this?" he cursed sniffing and drawing his forearm across his eyes to clear the tears away. "With all we've been through and he chose that demon over me!" Tears threatened to fall again but the little insect stubbornly held them back. "Is this really my fault?"

The little dragonfly tried to see what Spyro saw. He tried to objectively look at Cynder at all angles. Sparx thought back to the moment that Cynder had been freed from the curse, and then he tried to list everything that he knew about Cynder.

He was surprised to realize that he couldn't come up with very much, and what he could come up with he realized was biased and unfair.

Suddenly he realized for the first time with unclouded certainty that any sin she had committed had either happened before she was free, or he had exaggerated into being. With this revelation Sparx shot merrily up into the air. He could still fix this. He just had to apologize to Cynder and start over with her.

"Excuse me, but are you alright little one?" An oily voice spoke out of the darkness surprising Sparx.

Sparx who hadn't looked at the stranger smiled. "Better than I've been all day." He mentally plotted the course that would take him back to the dragon temple quickly. "Thanks mister."

Sparx felt a jolt of fear as a hand seemed to materialize around his thin body. "Going so soon?" The mole with the oily voice stepped into the light and Sparx felt his heart speed up in fear. The mole was covered in darkness. It wasn't that the mole's fur had suddenly turned black, but it appeared as though he were covered in a thick dark shadow that floated just over the surface of his skin.

Sparx began to panic as he felt the hand tighten around him. The dark mole quickly began walking back up the alleyway. He turned a corner and was curious to see a courtyard ahead. Odd, the only courtyard near the gates was the one with the... Sparx began to thrash in panic as he saw the dark monolith of stone growing closer. Obviously one of the element gates had been ruptured. Or removed, Sparx thought darkly. In the moment before the mole threw him in a small cage by the crystal Sparx saw the two other gates glimmering, with huge holes in them where the third had been carefully rammed between the two opening a pathway out. Sparx cried out as he realized that one of the guardians had ruined the defenses. He had to get back to tell Spyro that the rebel element was-

Thud!

So originally chapters five six and seven were all one really really long chapter. So like J. R. R. Tolken before me I simply just cut each off when I found a point to do so. Sorry if this is a bad clif hangar.