CHAPTER 7

He stepped into the door and noticed a small set of footprints in the dust. He looked up from them and saw patches of snow on the floor from the holes in the ceiling. He noticed the glowing crystals growing all over the temple and how worn down the overall structure appeared. He looked around and wondered what was supposed to be in here, as all he could find so far was dust and cobwebs. He stepped lightly farther in and came upon a wing of the temple that looked ransacked. He stepped into one of the rooms and looked around, noticing the damage. He turned to leave and came face to face with the dragons from his dream.

"Gah! W-where did you come from?" He said startled.

"That's not important. We're glad you've decided to heed our warning." Cynder said.

He looked at the two of them and raised a confused eyebrow. They too looked him over, and noticed the cuts and bruises covering his young frame.

"You've suffered for your sister, that's a step in the right direction." Spyro said pleased.

"How did you two get in my dreams? Are you psychic or something?" he asked.

Spyro chuckled slightly as did Cynder.

"No Jerrath, we arent Psychic. We're spirits." He said.

This threw Jerrath for a loop. Spirits? Talking to him? Appearing in plain sight? Impossible. Though they did know his name already...

"So you're spirits are you? If that's true, then you know everything about me right?"

Spyro rolled his eyes and turned to Cynder.

"Why do they never take our word for it?" He groaned.

"Yes, we do." Cynder said.

"Ok then, whats my-"

"43." Spyro answered.

Jerrath was astonished, but continued.

"My middle name-"

"Winston." Spyro quipped

"And my favorite-"

"Lamb chops in a blood marinade." Cynder said.

"Ok...but I've never told anyone about my-"

"Stash of 'Adult scrolls' under your bed?" Spyro finished as Cynder blushed and giggled.

"Believe us now?" He asked slightly annoyed.

"Ok, so you are spirits. You know everything about me, now I want to know about you. Especially you Spyro. What was it like to fight that evil she-devil-"

"Ahem." Cynder said.

"Oh right...sorry...anyway, whats you guys story?" He asked.

Sadness crossed Spyro's face as he began.

"Well, after I saved Cynder from Malefor, we kinda...fell in love and lived the rest of our days together. That is, until we were called to meet the Creator."

"Oh really? If you don't mind my asking, how did you guys...you know...die?"

"Well...It turns out that not everyone was happy with us killing Malefor. The apes especially... it had been many years since he had been defeated, so many that Cynder and I were well past our prime. We kept the location of the temple a secret from the apes after Malefor fell and the elders died. But eventually, they found out where we were hiding..."

FLASHBACK

Spyro burst through the front door of the temple, startling his sleeping mate. Both of them were about the age of Ignitus, maybe a little older this night. Years of fighting have finally caught up with them. The raging storm outside howled as Spyro barricaded the door.

Cynder rubbed her eyes and got up on all fours walking towards her lover.

"Whats wrong Spyro?" She yawned.

He didnt speak, only panted for breath. His silence answered her question.

"No...How many are there?" She asked waking fully.

"Hundreds..." He said sadly. There was no way they could fight through that many apes by themselves. If they were caught, they would be tortured mercilessly. Spyro couldn't stand even the thought of those filthy monsters laying their hands on his beautiful Cynder. It nauseated him to no end. But their situation did seem rather hopeless. A loud bang was heard at the doors Spyro had just blocked and drew their attention. They looked at each other with a mix of fear and courage as they slowly made their way to their room. The pounding of the door only grew louder and more frequent as the door began to give way.

They shut the door to their room and looked deeply in each others eyes. Spyro saw tears in Cynders and this made his begin to flow as well. Cynder looked away, unsure of what to do, but knowing what needed to be done.

"Well...I guess this is it huh?" She said nervously.

The door finally gave way with a loud crash which startled the both of them, and only emphasized the sense of urgency in the room.

Cynder drew close to Spyro as he did to her, both of them raising their tails and slowly wrapping them around each other's necks.

"Please don't cry Cynder...It'll only hurt for a second...I promise." He said choking up as well.

"Find the dragons! Don't kill them, I want them alive!" Was heard from outside the door in the hallway.

She closed her eyes and he whispered softly to her

"On three...one...two...three..."

He kissed her and she returned it as both of their tails whipped around their necks, the razor sharp tailtips quickly severing each others throat. Spyro flinched and felt Cynder flinch as their tails sliced effortlessly through their scales. Spyro caught her as she began to collapse. He felt his own strength fading as his body struggled to use the dwindling supply of oxygen brought on by this suicide pact. Neither could speak any longer as he laid on his back, pulling Cynder on top of his chest, feeling the warmth of her blood on his scales. She pulled herself up to his lips as they locked eyes one last time, his vision fading into darkness. He kissed her lips one last time before he noticed their door fling open and an ape commanders face contorting into one of furious rage upon seeing the dragons blood and dying bodies.

"Noooo!! Damn you purple dragon!!" He said as a small smirk graced his face before he took his last breath.

END FLASHBACK

"Wow...I'm sorry..." Jerrath said feeling terrible about bringing up something so painful.

"Don't be. Whats done is done, I wouldn't have had it any other way." Cynder said.

"Did anyone ever take revenge on the apes? Like your children or someone?"

Cynder shied away in sadness as Spyro fielded this question.

"Cynder wasn't able to conceive after I saved her from Malefor. Thus, the effect of dark magic." He admitted sadly while wrapping his wing around her and kissing her lightly on the cheek.

"Oh..." He said embarrassed for asking the second awkward question in a row.

"Why am I here?" He said quickly changing the subject.

The mood changed immediately as Cynder once again addressed him.

"Firstly, we need to let you in on a few things that your 'elders' have completely wrong." she said.

"Ok. Like what?" He asked

"First off, those Crystals you worship are not holy. In fact, they are the exact opposite. They're dark crystals, and they will burn you if touched. We saw your sisters heresy trial from our world. If you touch anyone's scales with a piece of dark crystal it will burn them." Cynder explained

"Ok...so what does that mean?"

"The way a heretic is proven guilty is by seeing weather or not a piece of dark crystal burns you when they touch you with it."Spyro added.

"So that's why no one is proven innocent..." Jerrath said.

"Exactly. Secondly, this Mr. B Ria has been seeing is no imaginary friend. He is quite real, and very dangerous."

"Really? Who is he?"

"Remember the 'Time of the Great Darkness' that I saved the world from in your Heritage class?" Spyro asked

"...Yeah..." He said cautiously.

"He is the one who started that entire era."

Jerrath eyes widened in white knuckled terror.

"He's...the d-dark master?" He said softly.

"Yes. We don't know what he is planning on, but we think he plans on taking control of your sisters body and harnessing the dark crystals in the center of your town."

Jerrath considered this, and asked

"Why?"

"So he can revive himself and reign darkness over the land once more."

Jerrath was dumbstruck. His sister was a part of some massive evil scheme? How could this be happening? And furthermore, he had always learned that the purple dragon was supposedly the only one who could defeat the dark master. How was he supposed to do that if he's dead?

"How do we stop him?"

"We cant stop him. But you can. Which is why you're here. We only have one day, so we have to train quickly."

"Wait a second. Ria's execution is at dawn! I have to save her from Gafron and those crazy elders!" Jerrath said worried.

Spyro and Cynder just laughed as they turned to lead him to the training room.

"What is so funny?! My baby sister is going to die!" He shouted angrily.

"Trust me. The dark master wouldnt let the likes of them hurt his vessel. She'll be fine. We're training you to fight him, not Gafron and his band of goons." Spyro said as Jerrath limped behind.

They reached the central training room, which was showing its age. Jerrath looked around and questioned its capability.

"This place is a dump." He stated quite bluntly.

"It may be old, but it will serve our purposes. But before we do any training, we need to get you patched up." Cynder said raising her forepaw and closing her eyes. The markings on her forehead and below her eyes began to glow a soft white as a beam of the same color light descended upon him, making his wounds close up and bruises disappear.

"Wow...I feel amazing! Thanks Cynder."

"No problem." She said walking over to Spyro who had found the lever that activated the dummies in the floor.

"Jerrath, this lever makes dummies appear for you to attack. What element have you mastered?" He asked

Jerraths face turned red as he admitted quietly.

"Uhh...none..."

Spyro turned around and looked at him with a shocked raised eyebrow.

"You haven't mastered an element? Aren't you fourteen?" He asked.

"Yes...I know a little bit about fire, but I'm still pretty much a novice at it..." he admitted sheepishly.

"They dont teach you how to use your elements in school?" He whispered as he addressed him.

"No. Violence is discouraged...we have to figure it out on our own..." He said

"Things sure have changed since our day Cyn..." He muttered as he turned back around.

"Since you aren't a purple dragon, you can only master one element. So I guess we're going with fire." Cynder said as Spyro closed his eyes and raised up on his hind legs and spoke seemingly to the heavens.

"Ignitus, we could use some help down here."

A red silhouette appeared right next to him and began to fill in, taking the shape of a large red dragon.

"Yes Spyro?" He asked.

Spyro turned to Jerrath and said

"This is Ria's brother."

Ignitus looked over to him and approached.

"I'm sorry to hear about your sister, but we are going to do everything we can to make sure you have the tools to save her. I am Ignitus, the master of Fire."

Jerrath bowed and Ignitus returned it.

"My name is Jerrath." He said as Spyro stepped forward with Cynder.

"Ignitus will make you the best fire breather in all the realms." Spyro said confidently.

"Ok...where do we start?" He asked

"I've found the beginning to be a good place." Ignitus said as he stepped beside him.

"Let me see your mightiest flame. Hold nothing back!" Ignitus said as Jerrath squared up and brought himself low to the ground and inhaled. He blew a relatively small to medium sized stream of fire stretching about five feet in front of him.

Ignitus raised an eyebrow at the display and asked

"How old are you?"

Before Jerrath could answer in annoyance Spyro did.

"He's fourteen, he hasn't mastered fire. That's why you're here." He explained.

"Oh...Very well. Pull that lever Jerrath and we may begin your training." The Master of fire instructed.

He nodded and walked over to it. He grabbed it in his jaws and pulled as the rusty device squeaked and grinded before finally giving way, dropping three animated straw dummies from the ceiling. They immediately charged him, and he had enough time to flame one of them, but was quickly jumped by the other two. They beat him repeatedly with their mallets as Cynder, Spyro and Ignitus watched and sighed heavily with embarrassment.

"Lets get them off of him...we have a lot of work to do..." Ignitus said walking toward the young dragon.

Time for some training! Ignitus will make something fierce of Jerrath yet! the next chap may no come out till after xmas. So Merry Christmas guys!