And here it is, great chapter numero dos. Enjoy. R&R
My eyes opened, and I took in the bloody mess before me. Bodies were strewn all along the length of the beach, mainly orcs and a dragon here and there; injuries were varying ranging from deep slices across the torso to strange burns that enveloped the entire body to missing limbs. A few bodies were mutilated beyond recognition, torn apart by an unknown source. The sheer amount of blood had turned the water red. I looked down, staring at my claws. They were stained green and red. And I smiled a feral grin. Hearing a strange muffled sound, my grin grew wider, knowing that the fun wasn't over.
Turning around, I marched past a pile of bodies impaled by a giant icicle, which refused to melt despite the tropic climate. I stalked past those crushed by large boulders. Every so often, I would stop to kill one who was still living, but there weren't many. Eventually, I found the source of the sound I had heard earlier. A black dragoness was looking around at the carnage, obviously scared beyond measure; there was an almost-visible aura of fear hanging around her. She turned to look at me and gasped, running forward. She nestled close to me, sighing in relief, or was it comfort? It wouldn't matter soon. The black dragoness closed her eyes, still not looking at my face.
"Spyro, I was so worried," she whispered. I didn't respond. Then she froze, noticing a change she hadn't before when she foolishly ran towards me. She glanced at my face, and relief turned to horror as she started to back away, too late.
"Spyro, no!" The dragoness was too fear-ridden to think of flying away, which made my job easier. My grin grew impossibly wider, dripping blood that was not my own. Then I swung…
I awoke with a start, gasping loudly and looking around for Cynder. I found her lying not too far away, curled up and resting peacefully. I gasped as I saw her sleeping. This was the first time I had seen her completely at peace, not worrying about anything. It was soothing.
I saw her stir, and she raised her head, blinking away the sleep, and saw me staring at her.
"Spyro, you're awake!" Cynder jumped up and ran towards me, almost knocking me over. Now that I thought of it, most of my body was sore.
"How long was I out?" I asked rolling my shoulders to rid myself of the dull, throbbing pain.
"Two days. You were thrashing around like a chicken with its head cut off for awhile. It was hard to keep you down." That's when I noticed the tiny gashes covering her legs and torso. She was trying to play it off as a joke, but I didn't feel amused. Quite the opposite. I was reeling inside with horror and self-loathing. Then I caught something else in her joking comment.
"Wait… when was the last time you ate?" I asked, worried. Cynder thought about it, and then answered.
"I don't remember."
"You didn't have to starve yourself just to watch over me," I chastised. Now that I thought about it, I was pretty hungry as well.
Cynder looked at me, innocence in her face. "I was going to, but you didn't want me to go. You kept on mumbling, 'Don't leave me'."
I ducked by head, embarrassed, and muttered something about hunting that sounded lame even to me. I walked out to the opening of the cave, stretching my wings and hearing some joints pop from the strain. I gave the empty meadow a look around and, dissatisfied, took flight to reach the top of the hill the cave was in. Cynder was behind me every step of the way, like she was worried about me straining myself. Grinning, I turned back around and dove towards her, tackling her before she could even let out a squeak of surprise. Cynder growled at me while we were plummeting, and disappeared from underneath me. Darn her and her shadow powers. Just then I noticed I was about to crash into the ground. I quickly recovered, talons skimming the grass, and flew back up to the top of the hill, where Cynder was waiting, impatiently.
"What's your problem?" I asked rhetorically, ducking before I got slapped in the side of the face.
"You've been unconscious for two days, and I've been worrying all this time, wondering if you were okay, wondering what it was you had said to me before you fell unconscious, trying to piece together all of your mutterings, still not sure if you're okay, and here you are, trying to tackle me!" Cynder's tirade caught me off guard.
"Wait, you said I was muttering? About what?" I glanced at her, my confusion showing on my face. What had I said while I was unconscious? This made her nervous.
"Nothing. Forget I said anything. Don't you want some food?" I frowned at her attempt to distract me. But, my hunger overrode curiosity, so I fell for it. I would make sure to ask her later. But as for now, I would hunt, and I would eat. Before, it was possible to gain strength from the crystals, but they can't get rid of hunger, only get absorbed and give you the nutrients necessary. It couldn't get rid of the pain gnawing at your stomach, but you eventually learn to ignore it. It just grows on you.
Remembering my purpose for coming up here in the first place, I tore my gaze away from the dragoness and surveyed the area. I noticed a herd of sheep, not too far away. I turned to point it out to Cynder, but she was gone. Looking back towards the herd, I saw her flying towards the unknowing sheep. Chuckling to myself, I leapt off the hill, flapping hard to catch up. Cynder slowed, allowing me to reach her, and we flew for a few minutes in silence, punctuated by the beats of our wings and the symphony of our joy at just being alive.
We reached the herd around midday. I glanced down, picking out a sheep in the herd that had yet to notice us. I pulled my wings in close, and began my dive. At the last second, I flared my wings and pulled up, knocking the sheep over and breaking a few of its bones, some of which pierced its hide. It began to bray, but the pleas fell on deaf ears; the flock had already retreated from the area as fast as they could. I jumped forward and quickly killed the creature, putting it out of its misery. I glanced over a Cynder and noticed that she had killed hers more… conservatively, and without a hint of the theatrics of my own kill. She settled down and began to work through the wool to get to the flesh beneath. I sighed and began to do the same.
The wool was the worst. It was inedible, and always left a strange aftertaste if any got in your mouth. The easiest way to fix that problem was to roast the sheep to burn the wool away. Cynder didn't have that ability. What she did have, however, was the blade on her tail. She began to cut away patches of wool while I sat by my own kill, waiting to stop the flames when necessary. Glancing over at pyre, I got up and went to a river a few feet away. I had chosen this spot specifically for the purpose of quenching the flames. By the time I had smothered the fire, Cynder was beginning to eat. I hauled out of the water over to my kill, tearing flesh from bone. After eating, I sighed contently, then stood up when I heard a murmur.
"Did you say something?" I asked, glancing over at Cynder.
"No," she said, looking at me with confusion, or maybe she just thought I was crazy. Maybe I was.
"I thought I heard… never mind."
Undaunted, I leapt towards her playfully. Cynder saw my move and took flight, launching backwards and completed a back flip before flying towards the place she had chosen as our shelter. I leapt forwards and tried to gain as much ground as possible. Drawing the power within my being and focusing it at my mouth, I shot forth a mist that froze instantly when it hit Cynder's wings. The thin covering would melt in a few seconds, but it would be enough to make her falter, and that was all I needed. I caught up with her and latched onto her back before spinning her around and throwing her to the side. Her cold, indifferent attitude from before melted away with the ice, and she darted towards me, almost knocking me out of the sky. We flew through the sky for awhile, enjoying each other's presence, the peacefulness of the situation bringing out our true selves, and we finally acted our true age. All the tension, all the stress, all the responsibilities disappeared at that moment. And I was happy. For the first time since I discovered who I was, I was truly happy.
"Well young dragon, where might you be?"
I ears shot up, and I dropped a few feet before I came back to my senses and flapped to regain altitude. I could have sworn I had just heard Ignitus. Cynder seemed not to notice how I'd stiffened and fell. I sped up and went for a landing inside the cave, not wanting to stop at the mouth. I shook my head, clearing my thoughts. What was wrong with me? That was twice I had heard voices. More recently, the voice of Ignitus rang out clearly in my mind, while earlier I could have sworn that the unknown voice, for I had never heard it before, had said "Kill her." I felt a shiver run through me and I quickly sat down right when Cynder entered the cave.
"What's wrong?" The dragoness asked walking towards me. I was so preoccupied with my thoughts I didn't hear her until she repeated the question.
"Oh, nothing," I said, wanting to change the subject. I remembered about her saying about my mumblings and asked her that question. Immediately, her protective attitude from earlier came back and she refused to tell me.
"No."
"Please?"
"No."
"Pretty plea-"
"NO!"
I smirked as I thought of something else she had said, something about wondering what I had said before falling unconscious.
"Not even if I tell you what I said three days ago?"
I watched as Cynder chewed this over, curiosity raging against whatever else she was feeling. Finally, curiosity won.
"Fine. Tell me what you said," the dragoness snapped, exasperated.
"Nope. You tell me first."
Cynder sighed and, with a defeated expression, began to fill me in on what happened.
"You didn't talk all the time, but when you did, it was like you were having a conversation with somebody. Sometimes, you talked with yourself. When you said something, you would get violent and it looked like you were trying to injure yourself. I would try to stop you, but you're stronger than I am. But I managed to keep your claws away from you, though. Which explains all of this," Cynder glanced down at her wounds before continuing. "I only managed to catch a few snippets of what you were saying when you were angry. Things along the lines of killing for enjoyment, murdering the Guardians, and talk about restarting the cycle. Then, you would stop and try to reason with it. You would scream 'Not them! Take me instead!' I was talking to you, trying to calm you down, but every time I tried to say something, you would go into another rage and tear at yourself.
"Eventually, you would start to mumble strange things, you would ask about something called the Void. Then, you would talk in a different language and seem to answer your own question. It scared me. Soon, you just stopped talking. The only movement would be hours apart, a little twitch. Then a few hours after that, you woke up. So, are you going to tell what you said?"
It seemed that Cynder skimmed over a few things and didn't go into details, but I decided that was all I was going to get from her. I got up and walked towards her. Cynder froze when I stopped a few inches away. I slowly crept closer, not sure where this courage came from. Then, I kissed her.
"I said 'I love you too.'" With that, I walked away and went to sleep, leaving a dumbstruck Cynder sitting there wondering what had just happened.
There it is. Now I'm going to make this fast before you all bite off my head for the beginning of this chapter. I'm eternally thankful to Ryft Darkpaw for turning my semi crappy story into a great one. It means a lot. Remember, reviews are the heart that keeps the lifeblood that is my thoughts circulating throughout the body which is this story. Without you, This story would be a cadaver all but forgotten about in the back of the morgue. Goodbye.
