Chapter 8

"Come on Spyro concentrate, blow me away," said the dragoness as she dug her claws into the ground, Spyro stood across from her in a battle position. After falling asleep Spyro had gone back to the spiritual temple and had been training his wind ability for hours, though half the time he was there was spent reading old scrolls on the fundamentals of wind breath and basic tornado breathing.

When he had finally finished reading them all she asked him if he was ready for a sort of test on how much he learned, after agreeing he was taken to the training room and now his task was to create a twister powerful enough to lift her off the ground. Spyro closed his eyes in concentration and tried to remember what he had read, okay, okay I can do this just...concentrate.

Spyro opened his eyes and looked at the dragoness, he lowered his head to the floor and gently blew out the wind towards her. At first the wind simply spun around without control but as time passed a small twister began to take form and slowly began to rise higher and higher, quite the problem considering Spyro had trouble keeping it still.

As the tornado kept growing it began pulling Spyro and the dragoness towards it, Spyro dug his claws into the ground and tried to control it but it just kept growing and growing. When it touched the ceiling of the room it began to grow in width, eventually it got too close to Spyro and dragged him inside, "how do...you s...top thi...s thing...ahhh...hhhh!" Spyro yelled as he kept going in circles over and over again.

The dragoness jumped back a couple feet, her eyes glowed briefly and the tornado dissipated. Once the tornado was gone Spyro spiraled away a couple feet away and crashed onto the iron wall, he slowly stood up and wobbled over to the dragoness, "...that was fun," he said struggling to stay on his feet.

"Spyro I thought you read all the scrolls I gave you," Spyro pawed at the ground and looked away from her, "really?" she sighed and shook her head, "Spyro you may have more power than the average dragon but without the knowledge you won't get far." Spyro chuckled and looked back at her, "you sound just like Volteer, do you by any chance know who he is?"

"No but by the sound of it he must be a very wise dragon, anyway how much DID you read?" Spyro looked around and smiled at her, "I uh, skimmed most of it," the dragoness shook her head and walked away, "I still learned didn't I, sure I got trapped in my own attack but it's still something right?"

The dragoness just kept walking away, "it maybe something Spyro but it'll just take you longer to understand if you don't put in the effort," Spyro sighed and sat on his haunches. Spyro was disappointed because he knew she was right, there were like twenty scrolls how was I supposed to read all that much, Spyro sighed when he remembered something, I'm in a dream it's not like I have anywhere else to go...I should've just read the scrolls.

"Well looks like you did learn something while you were here after all," exclaimed the dragoness from behind him. Spyro jumped a little startled, "what do you mean?...wait, can you, can you...listen to my thoughts?" The dragoness smiled and sat down a couple feet infront of him, "not the most interesting way to spend my time but...yeah," the space around them turned black as the glowing circle appeared once more, "I expect you to finish reading the scrolls next time you're here Spyro."

"I will, hey um, I've been here a while now and you know my name but, I don't know yours?" The dragoness chuckled and began to fade away, "if you manage to learn wind then I might consider telling you." Spyro watched as she finally disappeared into the surrounding darkness, Spyro sighed and stepped into the glowing symbol on the floor, the light grew brighter and brighter to the point of it being able to blind someone, but after a couple seconds it was gone in a flash leaving nothing but dust in the air behind.

The cold wind blew past the small party as they slept, Thorin had grabbed a winter cloak from his bag and had been using it as a blanket, Cynder had stayed in the same position as she was when she fell asleep. Thorin was slowly leaning to his left as he slept though, no one could see it as he was up on a branch.

Spyro groaned as he awoke, though he had been asleep he was, for some reason, more tired than before. "I trained in my dreams so," he yawned and looked over Cynder's sleeping body, "why am I so tired?" he asked himself. Spyro sighed and looked down at Cynder, "you always look so peaceful when you're asleep," he ran a claw across her face, she sniffed and moved her head a bit at his touch, he smiled and lied back down next to her, "if only you could just forget those awful memories."

Spyro closed his eyes and shivered, the sun hadn't come up yet and the night air was freezing, Cynder shivered and subconscious moved closer to Spyro who draped a wing over her body and placed his paw slightly over her waist, Spyro could tell she was freezing by how cold her scales were, Spyro moved away from her a bit, he looked down and slowly blew hot steam in the space between their bodies.

This seemed to work as she stopped shivering and closed the space between them, cuddling as close to Spyro as possible before she stopped moving and went back to breathing calmly. Spyro smiled at her, he had always liked her even before they broke free of the crystal, he knew what her past had been like by what the Chronicler and she had told him, "I only wish I could help you forget," he said sadly as he remembered the many times she had broken down, or had waken him because of a nightmare she had.

Whenever she had those nightmares she didn't seem like herself she was more...fragile, emotional to the point of even the slightest offensive comment being able to bring her to tears. Only yesterday she began to act like herself, she seemed to be a lot more confident and began thinking like herself, and sounding like it to.

Spyro hoped that she would go back to her old self and stay that way, though, something on the back of his head doubted that possible. Spyro shook his head and sighed, come on this is Cynder we're talking about, she's the smartest, toughe... he lost his train of thought as he looked at her, she had such a peaceful look on her face, so...beautiful, Spyro shook his head and snapped out of his trance, hmm, she maybe strong, smart, and courageous...but she's also the most attractive dragoness I've ever seen...though, she IS the only dragoness I've ever seen.

Spyro chuckled and closed his eyes, hoping to get a couple more hours of sleep before they resumed their journey. While Spyro and Cynder slept Thorin kept on slowly leaning to his left, first his hand dropped, then his head, next thing they knew there was a small yelp followed by a loud thump as he landed on the cold, hard dirt.

Spyro and Cynder both looked up and saw a large dust cloud under the branch where Thorin had been sleeping, Thorin groaned in pain from within the thick dust cloud, Spyro and Cynder both did their best not to laugh when they realized what had happened. "Thorin a-are," Cynder was fighting so hard not to laugh that she had tears in her eyes, "are..phh...ha...y-you okay...hmm."

"Yeah...I'm fine," he answered in a high pitched voice. Cynder covered her mouth with both paws to try and keep herself from laughing...it didn't work. she burst out laughing like never before, while she did she stood on her hind legs and dropped on her back waving her paws in the air as she did.

Spyro rose a paw to his mouth and chuckled, "now Cynder," said Spyro trying not to laugh as well, "we..shouldn't laugh at other people's pain." Thorin dusted himself off as he walked out of the dust cloud, "yeah you shouldn't," Thorin's eyes widened for a moment as he looked over at them, he quickly looked down and walked over to Spyro who had a confused expression on his face, "hey uh...I wouldn't look back if I were you," he whispered.

Thorin turned around and walked over to the fire pit. Spyro was confused as to why he said this but all became clear as he glanced over at Cynder, as he looked behind him he caught a glimpse at something that made him nervous. Spyro quickly looked forward and walked over to Thorin, I didn't see that I didn't see that I didn't see that, thought Spyro over and over.

Thorin looked over at Spyro and quietly laughed knowing what it is that he had seen, "told you not to look," he told Spyro as he striked two rocks together sending a few sparks flying in all directions. Spyro looked over at him with an angry look, "I would've been better off if you hadn't said anything...I'll never be able to uns." "what are you guys whispering about?" asked Cynder as she walked over to them.

Spyro looked over at her with a nervous smile, "uhh we uh...n-nothing...right Thorin," he looked over at him with pleading eyes. Thorin grinned at him and looked over at her, "let's just say Spyro saw a side of you he's never seen before."

Cynder was confused at that, I was just laughing, I've done that before haven't I, she looked over at Spyro and without knowing what mental damage her words would unleashed she smiled and asked him, "did you like it?" Spyro's eyes widened as thoughts raced through his mind at a phenomenal rate, he felt his heart smashing against his chest as its pace quickened then...darkness.

Cynder and Thorin stared as Spyro fainted and collapsed on the spot, "Spyro?!" asked Cynder as she walked over to him and nudged him, "you think he's okay?" Thorin shook his head at him then chuckled, "he's fine," he struck the two stones together and managed to get a flame, "don't worry about it."

Cynder sighed a little worried but looked over at the fire with a confused look, "how can two stones create fire?" she asked as she walked over to Thorin and sat down next to the fire. "well not any kind of stone can," he said as he showed the two dark stones to her, "this is called flint," he said as he grabbed one of the two rocks and showed it to her, " handy to say the least, this other one isn't a rock at all, it's actually steel though it may not look like it."

Cynder looked closely at the ball of steel that Thorin held out, she flicked her claw at it and was surprised to hear a 'clink'. Thorin smiled and placed them in a pocket in his clothing, "they come in handy when there isn't a fire breathing dragon nearby," Cynder giggled and looked over at Spyro who shook his head and rose from the ground.

"what happened?" he asked as he scratched his head. "you tell me, I just asked you a question then all of a sudden you just collapse," said Cynder as she walked over to him. It took a while but eventually he remembered what it was that had happened, "oh yeah," he started to get nervous again, "now I remember," he took a deep breath and managed to calm down. "you okay?" asked Cynder as she placed a paw on his shoulder, he looked over at her and nodded with a smile on his face, just don't think about it...and you'll be fine, Spyro thought to himself as he and Cynder walked over to Thorin.

"well," he said sitting down next to the fire, he unsheathed his sword and used it to move some logs around, "I did the hunting last time so," he took out the blazing blade and stuck in the ground for it to cool off and looked at them, "it's your turn." Spyro and Cynder shrugged and walked away into the forest, Spyro looked down at Cynder's paw, "feeling any better?" she looked at him with a questioning look, "what," she followed his gaze and realized what he was talking about, "oh, yeah, still can't put too much pressure and it burns more than anything I've ever felt but," she sighed and looked at him, "overall it's okay, don't worry about it I'll be fine."

Spyro relaxed for a moment and looked around for something to eat, after a few seconds he looked over to see that Cynder had ducked into some bushes and was moving slowly towards a deer, the deer rose its head and looked around, Cynder acted quickly and tackled it to the ground quickly stabbing it with he tail. Spyro walked over to her and helped her up, "you didn't hurt yourself did you?" he asked as he saw her cringe, he looked at her side and started to worry as it began to turn red.

"I'm fine, just opened up the damn thing," she hissed as she got up and sat on her hunches, "just gotta tighten it a little bit," she unwrapped her bandages and began to place them back, this time a lot tighter. Spyro helped her wrap it around her back and made sure not to pull it too much, "sure you'll be okay?" he asked as he secured the bandages in place, Cynder sighed and turned around to look at him.

"Spyro I'll be fine, don't worry so much!" she said growing a little frustrated at his worrying all the time. Spyro hung his head and sighed, "sorry...didn't mean to annoy you," he said poking at the ground, Cynder felt bad, she didn't mean to sound angry she was merely trying to get him to calm down. Cynder was about to apologize when they heard some yelling off in the distance, "stay away from me you freak!"

Spyro and Cynder both looked at each other and ran off in the direction the screaming had come from, after a while of running they slowed down and dived into some bushes. Spyro and Cynder crawled forward and poked their heads through them, a muscular looking creature held his blade with both hands and was looking at a creature across from him.

This other creature had yellowish fur with black spots everywhere, he wore clothing made from what looked like skin, shoulder pads covered with jagged knives, a helmet made from the skull of a dragon, a belt made from a small chain with spikes here and there, and dented bracers with blades attached to them. This creature had teeth that looked almost as lethal as those of dragons, it held a crude sword that looked so dull that it probably wasn't all that dangerous.

The other creature had dark brown fur, wore nothing but shorts made from simple cloth, he looked fairly strong, his teeth looked just as sharp if not sharper than his opponent. He held a fine cutlass that looked capable of piercing dragon scales, Spyro looked over at Cynder, "we should help shouldn't we?" Cynder nodded and both prepared to pounce on both of them when two hands reached out and, grabbing their muzzles, pulled them back into the bushes.

Spyro and Cynder looked up startled and saw that it was Thorin, he held up a finger to his mouth to keep them quiet and told them to follow him, Spyro and Cynder looked at each other a little confused as to what was going on but decided to do as Thorin said and followed him over to the edge of the bushes. They all looked through and saw that the two were still circling each other, "Hyenas," whispered Thorin, "merciless, blood thirsty creatures who win battles anyway they can, their weapons and armor are made by themselves if not taken from their victims, they don't care about anything except survival and power,"

"than we should help, come on," said Cynder as she moved forward only to be stopped by Thorin, he shook his head and told her to watch. "these creatures are known for their trickery and merciless fighting, trust me you don't want to be anywhe.." Thorin froze as he looked up and saw another one of them standing on the branch of a tree above them, Thorin signaled them to stay quiet and keep still. "ya think ye mindless creature can take me down, ya couldn't even manage to touch me, let alone harm me," said the other creature in a cocky tone.

The hyena twitched and let out a strange laughing sound, it looked back at his opponent and laughed, "your trail ends here you worthless bag of bones," as he said that the hyena that stood above Spyro, Cynder, and Thorin jumped out along with three more from all directions and they all simultaneously charged at him, he managed to defend himself for a while and was able to kill one of them but in the end it didn't matter, they lashed and tore at him with their fangs, soon after they began to feast on his dead body, Spyro and Cynder looked away while Thorin tried not to throw up.

After the hyenas finished they fought each other for the blade, the one that had been talking to the now dead creature stabbed and killed one of them taking the sword away, "this blade is mine! Now move!" he snarled as he kicked another one to the ground as it ran away back to their village. The hyena that seemed to be the leader sheathed the sword and ran away on all fours, they all made that laugh-like noise as they ran through the forest and away from them.

Spyro, Cynder, and Thorin looked at each other and slowly backed out of the bushes, they remained silent as they walked back to their camp. Cynder looked down at the ground as she walked behind them, seeing that had reminded her of her past and was doing her best to ignore it and not break down then and there. On the way back Thorin had picked up the deer and was carrying it over his shoulder, he had slit its throat and was bleeding out as he walked.

When they arrived at their camp Spyro threw some wood into the fire and Thorin began skinning the animal with his dagger, Cynder meanwhile simply lied down away from them and silently sobbed at the memories of her past. Spyro noticed this and slowly walked over and lied down next to her, Spyro hesitated for a while but he inched closer to her and draped a wing over her, she shook a bit at his touch but didn't move away.

Cynder sniffed and slightly lifted her face from her paws so that her eyes were now visible, "...(sniff)..I-I'm sorry." she said wiping away her tears with her paw. Spyro looked over at her and wrapped his paw around her body, pulling her closer to him seemed to help her relax, "it's okay," he said as he kissed her forehead and rubbed her back.

She wiggled around moved away, Spyro looked concerned but decided not to try anything, "no its not!," she said as a few tears began sliding down her face again, "I've tried Spyro...I've tried so hard to ignore them but...but I..I just," she felt his paw wrap around her and looked up at him. Spyro had a concerned expression on his face as he looked down at her, "I know Cynder," he said as he wiped away the tears with his paw, "...You did a lot of bad things...but, you have to remember that it wasn't your fault, you didn't do it because you wanted to, you had no choice," as he said this Cynder seemed be deep in thought about what he was saying, "I'm sure you did all you could to stop."

Cynder wrapped her paws around him and buried her face into his chest, she wasn't crying, she wasn't sobbing, she was silent the whole time, I keep making him worry...I ask why he worries so much when its all my fault, "I'm sorry," she whispered. Spyro sighed and rubbed her back, "It's fine...don't worry about it," he said as he grabbed her and pushed her away so that he could see her face, she still had a saddened look on her face but at least she had stopped crying, "...why don't we go and eat, might help you calm down...right?" she nodded and moved away from him.

Spyro helped her up and they walked over to the cooking meat that was slowly roasting on the flames, "hey Cynder, feeling any better?" asked Thorin as he picked up a piece of meat and placed it on a small piece of cloth. Cynder nodded and looked up at him, he smiled and held out the piece of meat to her, "thanks," she said as she took the piece of cloth and began eating, Spyro took his piece and they all began eating.

Spyro and Thorin began talking to each other and Cynder slowly started to join into the conversation, it took some time but eventually she was back to her old self. Spyro smiled at her as she laughed at one of Thorin's stories, After they were finished eating Thorin threw dirt on the fire pit and packed his things, "we better get going, we got a long ways to go before we reach the dragon city of Warfang," he said as he stood up with his pack on his back, "and this thing is way too heavy to carry around all day so lets go," he said as he walked away.

Spyro and Cynder chuckled at this and followed as he led them towards the mountain path. As they walked Thorin seemed be getting more and more confused, "we've been walking for hours now, yet the mountain doesn't seem to be getting any closer, we should've been there by now," said Thorin as he took out a map from his pack and looked at it. Spyro and Cynder looked and saw what he meant, they had been walking for a day and a half yet, all they could see was the peek of the mountain, "if I'm reading this correctly the entrance should be right ahead of u.." "look out!" Spyro and Cynder yelled in unison as they jumped at him and grabbed onto his pack.

"ahhhh!" Thorin seemed to fall off the edge of the world as he reached the end of the trail, "don't let go!" he yelled as he turned around and held onto his back pack with all his strength. Spyro and Cynder struggled as they held onto the pack with their maws and pulled, Spyro slipped and he and Cynder slid all the way to the edge of the cliff barely stopping before they themselves fell. Thorin let go and pulled himself up with one hand while Spyro and Cynder kept pulling, Thorin grabbed a rope from his pack and tied it to a hook, "Cynder, tie this around something!" he yelled as he tossed the grappling hook at the ground next to her.

Cynder looked over at Spyro who nodded, as she let go leaving Spyro to hold up Thorin and all is weight she grabbed the hook with one paw and quickly ran towards a tree, Spyro's fore paws slipped of the cliff and he landed hard on his chest. Cynder tied the rope and made sure it was secure, "Let go Spyro!" she yelled as she ran over to him and pulled him by his tail before he himself fell off.

Thorin climbed back and sat down a couple feet away from the drop, he looked at himself and laughed, "hahaha, I-I'm alive...I'M ALIVE!" he yelled as he fell on his back with a thud. Cynder pulled Spyro back and stumbled onto her back, her eyes widened as she looked at the trail behind them, "not for long, look!" she pointed at a group of hyenas off in the distance.

Thorin looked at the hyenas and immediately stood up and took out another hook from his pack, he pulled the rope that was hanging over the cliff and quickly attached the hook onto it, he swung it around a couple times then threw it across the chasm. They heard a soft "clink" and he pulled at the rope to make sure it was safe, "lets go!" he yelled as he hung onto the rope and slowly made his way to the other side, Spyro looked down and saw how high they were.

He gulped as looked up and held onto the rope and wrapped his tail around it to help support himself, as they made their way Cynder spread her wings and flew over them just in case either of them needed help, "the black one's scythe is mine!" yelled one of the hyenas as he pulled out a bow with red lines through it and strung a rather sharp arrow.

"their scales belong to me!" another one said as he jumped onto the rope and made his way towards Spyro, Cynder saw this and flew towards them but stopped as an arrow flew infront of her. "such shiny horns, they'll look good at the end of my spear," said a female hyena as she jumped at her and clung onto one of Cynder's paws and began tearing at it with her claws.

Cynder yelled in pain and pierced the hyena through her chest with her tail, she yelled and fell down the endless drop, her screams disappearing in the distance. "I got you now hahaha" laughed the hyena as it clung onto Spyro's back and sunk its teeth onto his side, he screamed and let go of the rope hanging only by his tail which was slowly slipping.

"die dragon, die!" yelled the cheetah pulling out a dagger and stabbed Spyro over and over, Cynder swooped down but before she hit him the hyena jumped back to the rope and kicked her on her side causing her to lose control and sent her spinning uncontrollably through the air. Thorin finally reached the mountain and quickly got off the rope and aimed his bow at the cheetah behind Spyro, he smiled and swung around back and forth on the rope, "what's the matter cheetah, can't hit a moving target hahaha..." he stopped as an arrow hit him on the heart.

He hung by one hand as he touched the arrow in horror before he let go and fell, "you tell me," Thorin said as he looked over the edge, an arrow flew past barely missing him and shattered to pieces as it struck the mountain. Thorin took cover behind a rock and strung another arrow, "you weaklings may have taken down those worthless imbeciles, but you won't be so lucky with me!" he said as he strung another arrow and aimed at Spyro, he shot it at the sky as Cynder flew upwards and hit his bow with her horns, he hissed at her and strung another arrow.

Spyro struggled to stay conscious as he swung back and forth trying to grab onto the rope, "your skull will be a great trophy for my tribe," he said as he aimed the bow at her and released it before getting stuck by one at the shoulder. He looked forward and hissed before getting hit again at the skull, he fell to his knees and dropped off the cliff, Cynder side flapped trying to dodge the arrow but it still managed pierce her shoulder, she yelled as she lost control and fell.

Spyro looked as she fell and swung to the side, he managed to bite down on her tail, he could taste blood as he held her but the alternative would've done worse. "Cynda, Cynda I ghand ghold on," he said as he bit down on her tail, he slipped a couple more inches towards the ground, Spyro gulped as he looked up and saw that his tail only wrapped around the rope twice, a little longer and they would both plummet to their doom.

"Spyro! Hold on!" yelled Thorin as he made his way towards them. "huat thu shu think I'm thoin!?" he asked as he tried to hold on. Cynder groaned and hissed at the pain in her shoulder and tail, "ugh, wha," she opened her eyes and saw that she was hanging upside down, "ahhhhh!" she yelled and furiously flapped her wings around.

"Cynder stop or you and Spyro will fall," she looked up and saw that Spyro barely held onto the rope with the end of his tail, "okay, try to swing towards me, that'll give Spyro a chance to hold onto the rope," said Thorin as he held out his hand to her. Cynder argue and started to swing her body back and forth, "that's it, a little more," he said as he narrowly missed her paw, "damn it, one more time, hurry" he said as he noticed Spyro's tail slipping more and more.

Cynder swung herself with all her strength and managed to grab his paw, Spyro let go of her tail as he reached out for the rope. As he reached his tail let go of the rope too soon and he threw himself towards Cynder and Thorin, "Spyro!" screamed Cynder as she let go of Thorin and grabbed onto Spyro, as they fell she outstretched her wings and began gliding down the mountain. "I'll see you down there! I guess," said Thorin as he made his way back to the mountain.

"ahhhh!" Cynder and Spyro both yelled as they crashed into a tree, their landing sent a few birds flying on all directions, "uhhhh my head...Spyro!" she frantically looked around trying to find him. "uhhhhh...up here," he said as he struggled to get himself free, he had gotten stuck in between some branches and wasn't able to get out, "mind helping out?" he asked as he gave up his struggling.

Cynder giggled at this and walked over to him flinching with every step as both her hind legs and shoulder, not to mention her tail, were now injured. She flapped her wings a couple times and lifted herself up to Spyro, "alright ahh...hold on," she said as she looked around the mess of branches and leaves, she flew around him a couple time before she stopped, "okay, stand still," she said as she went under him and hacked a branch he was laying on. The branch only took a few swipes from Cynder's tail before it fell down, "ahhh!" yelled Spyro as he fell down along with it.

Cynder laughed and landed next to him, "you okay?" she asked as she looked down at him. "apart from bleeding, and a few broken bones? Yeah I'm..fine," he hissed as he stood up and leaned against the tree, he looked down at her tail and saw that it was bleeding from where he had sunk his teeth, "...sorry about your tail," he said as he lied his head back against the tree and fought to stay awake.

She lifter her tail up to her face and licked the blood, "it's okay Spyro, if you hadn't done it I would've died for sure." Spyro seemed to shake at that and she walked up to him, "don't even say that..." he said as he imagined what life would be like if she had died. Cynder lied her head on his shoulder and licked his cheek, "don't worry i'm still here, you can't get rid of me that easily," she said as she closed her eyes and relaxed.

Spyro chuckled and stretched his wing around her, he pulled her closer to him and fell asleep. "Can't believe I have to make my way down this stupid mountain while they just glide down," complained Thorin as he made his way down the rocky mountain, "okay I'm not that far away," he said as he looked over the edge. Thorin pulled out his rope and stuck it in between two rocks, he tugged at it to make sure it was secure and threw the other end over the edge, "okay, a quick slide and I'll be home free," he said as he grabbed onto the rope and started sliding towards the ground.

"Spyro...hey, wake up lazy," Cynder whispered as she lightly shook him by the shoulder, Spyro yawned and lazily looked around, "wha...what's going on?" he asked still a little drowsy. Cynder opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted by a loud crashing sound, they both looked to see what it had been only to find Thorin on the ground.

"I've fallen too many times for one day," he groaned as he lifted himself back up, "well the sun's going down, might as well make camp here" he said as he walked over to them and looked around. He set his backpack down and pulled out his blanket, he draped it over some bushes and slowly lied down on top of it, "ghood night," he yawned and rolled himself up.

He began snoring only minutes later signaling that he was asleep, "he's fallen so many times, how has he not broken anything?" Cynder asked as she looked at the slumbering cheetah. Spyro shrugged and lied down, Cynder lied down next to him and he wrapped his paw around her draping his wing over her body at the same time, "goodnight Cyn" said Spyro falling back asleep almost instantly.

Cynder did what she always did and dug her head into his chest, she felt safer like this and so it had become somewhat of a habit before sleeping, "goodnight Spyro," she whispered as she drifted off to sleep.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX-DEEP IN THE FOREST-XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

dark clouds began appearing out of nowhere and eventually opened up to reveal a dark void, through it walked out Kyro, a look of exhaustion upon his face. He jumped off the portal and it dissipated into the air within seconds, "uhhh...last time I was here this place was in one piece," he took out his map and tried to figure out where he was, "now these islands are all over the place."

His map was marked with X's and coordinates, "It better be here," he said as he rolled up the map and placed it back in his trench coat. He walked up to a giant cave and looked around, the dark mist that covered his eyes glowed as he performed the same spell he had been using for the past day, dark clouds began to spread around him and covered the cave floor.

The clouds began glowing and slowly one section began spinning, it pulled all the other clouds around it and began to turn into a tornado. It thundered and flashed white as it spun sucking in everything with its reach, Kyro leaned back trying to stay away from it, his trench coat flapped around in the air as it pulled him closer.

The tornado condensed closer then exploded in a powerful burst of air that sent Kyro rolling a few feet away. He groaned as he stood back up and grinned, a large chest stood where the tornado had been, the chest was black with red metal running up the edges. Kyro walked towards it and placed his hand atop a lark K that lay on the lid, his hand glowed briefly the chest burst open sending five clouds flying out.

They landed on the cave floor and seemed to splash apart, a dark claw came out and a skeleton-like creature pulled itself up, the same happened with the other four clouds. Kyro grinned as they charged towards him, he grabbed hold of a staff that was in the chest and whipped around, dark lighting emanated from his staff and paralyzed the creature, "down boy hahahahaha" he laughed as the rest charged at him, he stopped electrifying the creature infront of him and quickly hit one of them with the bottom of his staff and a burst of shadows sent another one flaying across the cave, his staff covered itself in shadows and made itself look like a giant scythe.

Kyro spun around once and sent two of them tumbling backwards, he then raised the scythe and brought it down on the one he had been electrifying earlier. His staff glowed and the shadows that enveloped his staff were sucked back into the dark gem that floated in the middle. "hmm, feels good to be back," he tapped his staff on the ground and the creatures exploded into shadows which were then sucked into the gem of his staff.

The dark clouds surrounding the staff seemed to dissipate as Kyro stumbled backwards, he panted and looked at the gem which no longer glowed, "I've used up all my power...no matter," he said as he turned back to the chest and walked up to it. At the bottom stood a large book as well as a necklace with a transparant glass in the middle, his look turned soft as he slowly reached out to it, he grabbed it and pulled it up to eye level.

"I...I've seen this before," the shadows surrounding his eyes seemed to clear away slightly, "but...where?" suddenly a vision of a women flashed before him and he stumbled backwards falling to the ground, he then saw the same woman falling, who is that? He wondered as he looked back at the necklace. He shook his head and pulled back his arm to throw it away, but he couldn't, he sighed and placed it around his neck.

Kyro stood up and picked up his staff, he walked over to the chest and picked up the book, he took out a key from his trench coat and placed it inside the intricate lock. As he turned it the book began to vibrate and wiggle around, as soon as the key turned completely the book burst open, sending the key flying and smashed to pieces into the cave's wall.

Dark clouds flew out of the book and massed over Kyro, he held up his staff and the dark clouds smashed down on him, he yelled as all the power surged through his body. Kyro shut the book and lifted his staff over his head, "kyahhhh!" he yelled as he smashed it into the ground and covered the ground around him with a shadowy mist. Claws and swords started to appear out of the surrounding shadow and withing seconds an army of shadowy skeleton-like creatures laid before him, they looked similar to the ones that had attacked him but were taller and armed.

"guess who's back!" he yelled, the creatures jumped around and smashed the swords into the ground, they screeched as they did this and Kyro smiled, "now then hahaha lets take back what belongs to us!" he said as his staff glowed and a portal the size of the cave appeared infront of them, "go! We must prepare for war!" he said as he and the creatures stepped into the portal and vanished into thin air.

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Stress! sorry guys but I've got so much work, I got stuck so many times throughout this chapter and whenever that happened I just stopped, that and I've been getting sick lately too so...still that's no excuse for taking so long, sorry...I'd understand if you guys were angry at me but I did try to organize myself...didn't exactly work as you can tell.

Anyway I think chapters will be coming out monthly, maybe...depends on how much stress I have but I think I'll be okay for a while what with Christmas break and all...that'll help...I hope. Anyway if it somehow got confusing up there to the point of you reading it over and over to understand than by all means tell me so I can see if I can fix it, also who do you think the women was? You don't have to say anything but I want to see what you guys think.

(by the by though kyro did say "prepare for war" dont worry about it cuz that wont happen until...6 - 10 chapters further so dont think this story is going to take a turn into war...just thought you might want to know that)

Either way if you got suggestions, questions, or complements private message me or write in the reviews, I'm not sure when the next chapter will be out but I'll try not to take the usual month but I won't make any promises. Anyway I think that's it so...yeah, peace and happy holidays.