Note: the italicized words indicate what's going on in Spyro's head, as well as the characters' thoughts.

Have a good read!

Warfang quickly disappeared over the horizon behind them. As hard as it was to leave the Dragon Capital, they couldn't stay there forever. They would visit their friends again someday though, when the city was fully restored. It all seemed like a distant memory now, and once again they flew over the familiar sight of the desolate jagged mountains. Even though the climate here was pretty arid, which didn't bother Cynder all that much, she really enjoyed the morning breeze that blew over and around the peaks of the mountains. Every time she flapped her wings the air washed over them like the water of a cold river.

She had to be careful though: her necklace could fall off if she did too many maneuvers, and she didn't want that to happen. Lifting higher into sky, the air flowed down Cynder's back and washed away any tension remaining in her muscles. Spyro was just a little ways below her, and everything felt like it was right where it should be...

Spyro was with his eyes closed for an instant or two, enjoying the cool refreshing air that blew by his face as he flew. Likewise, he wasn't doing any fancy maneuvers, just taking a relxing fly over the mountains.

Cynder ducked low under Spyro and flew around a few of the tall spires jutting out from the small canyons below them. She wasn't trying to show off, but she did want to have a little fun while she flew.

"Hey Spyro! Down here!" she called out to the purple dragon, hoping he'd come down and join in on the fun.

Spyro looked down to notice what she was doing. He smirked a little as he decided to go ahead and follow. He swooped down, dodging a few spires coming up from the mountain just as Cynder was.

Cynder giggled as she looked over at Spyro. Just what she was hoping for. She smiled as she swooped in beside Spyro, following behind him as she did a small spin in the air just to feel the breeze enveloping her entire body. She really enjoyed the feel of the wind rushing past her when she flew like this.

"Glad you could come on down Spyro..." she said as she came up beside him again.

"I'm glad to be here Cynder." He said as he looked over to her. "Want to race at to the end of this canyon?" Spyro asked.

Cynder smirked at his proposal and nodded her head "Oh, now I like the sound of that Spyro." she said as she began to ready herself for the race.

Spyro dodged another spire as he prepared himself as well. "You ready to eat my tail Cynder?" He asked playfully smirking.

Cynder chuckled softly as she smiled back at him. "Only if you're ready to eat mine." she responded in the same playful manner.

"Oh don't tempt me." Spyro said as he rushed forward with gusto, getting a good cheap head start. He dodge another spire before looking back at her. "I hope you like the view."

Cynder immediately dashed after him, smirking softly to herself. "Oh, you know I do Spyro..." she giggled softly and spun a few times past the spire, quickly gaining speed as she worked on catching up with him.

Spyro blushed majorly as if he couldn't believe what he just heard, but kept on flying anyway, this causing him to lose momentum as he slowed down.

"Oh you do huh?" He asked.

Cynder smiled and caught up with him, flashing her bright, sharp white teeth in a playful grin. "I do Spyro..." she said softly, leaning in and giving him a quick, small lick on his nose.

All seemed to be going to well until Spyro's closed and relaxed eyes, suddenly his expression turned to one of mild discomfort. He shook his head as he opened his eyes, starting to feel a little woozy and it was clear in his how we was starting to waver from his course.

'Spyrrooo...'

A voice suddenly came to Spyro, which only his mind could hear. "W-What? Cynder did you say something?" He asked, looking back at her.

When Cynder looked over at Spyro she blinked at the sight of the purple dragon's mid-air swaying. She spread her wings out to lower her altitude until she was a few feet to his right.

"No, I didn't say anything..." Cynder replied, her face bearing an expression of concern. Spyro never acted this way before unless... "Spyro, is something wrong? I can tell you're getting a bit wobbly on me..." she said softly, now lightly flapping her wings against the soft morning air. Cynder hadn't heard anything; other than Spyro, the only thing she could hear was the breeze that blew past them.

"I-I'm sure it's nothing Cynder..." Spyro said as he heard the long wispy voice calling out his name. Little did Cynder know that deep within his own mind, Spyro was having his own battle right there beside her.

'Spyrrooo...come join us in our eternal suffering...'

Spyro could see a a dragon that looked to be about double his size, and his spirit had a blue glow to it…as if it had just come from the deepest darkest freezer. Looking at him sent chills down his spine. Ice spikes came up from his back and as if that was the way he had died in life.

'It doesn't matter who I am. We want you...to join in our suffering, because you are the cause of our damnation.' He said as he walked forward, step by step into the depths of Spyro's mind.

Cynder blinked a few times and started to slow down, staring at Spyro with worried eyes.

"Spyro...are you okay?" she asked as she got closer to the male dragon. She couldn't see any of what Spyro was seeing, or feel what he was feeling, despite the fact she was so close to him.

Back in the real world , Cynder could tell Spyro was struggling to stay aloft as the fight of wills raged.

"N-No..." Spyro said as his wing clipped a spire and he was sent crashing down to the earth.

"Spyro!" Cynder cried out when Spyro suddenly plummeted towards the mountains. The black dragoness immediately lunged down and flew after him as fast as she could. She didn't know what was going on, but at this moment she had to stop Spyro from hitting the ground below them.

As Spyro plummeted to the earth, he miraculously righted himself going to the ground paws first but he was coming in too hot. As soon as his front paws touched the ground he did a frontflip and started rolling a few ways before finally coming to rest on a flat. He was crawling towards...towards a pitch black area of sky off into the distance.

Spyro could feel his body trapped in ice by the evil ice dragon. Surrounded by the halls and corridors that could only be his mind, Spyro found himself at a dead end.

"I'm going to take your body….and then I'm going to drag you to where all good things die" The dragon said chuckling with his signature deep voice.

'Oh...Ancestors. It's...it's the...'

The draconic apparition smirked mockingly at Spyro.

Cynder coughed on the thick dust cloud thrown up by Spyro's near impact with the ground. Once her visibility cleared she could see Spyro...crawling. But the way he crawled looked so unnatural to her, it was like he wasn't himself.

Where was Spyro going? Cynder couldn't understand what was wrong with Spyro as she shouted after him, but her words were simply ignored as she could only watch the dragon crawling across the cold rock like a newborn hatchling.

Cynder could see the clouds gather above what appeared to be the remains of a crumbled mountain. The dark cloud overhead circled the top of it slowly. Slowly, but at the same time hypnotically. The shape of the base looked so very familiar to her. In the back of her mind she knew she'd been here before, but so many years back. In her mind she could picture the top of the mountain...a dragon head facing up towards the heavens with its mouth wide open...then, it hit her like a ton of bricks when she realized where she and Spyro had stumbled upon.

Her heart skipped several beats and a rough shiver of complete dread went up her spine. No...it couldn't be...it just couldn't. She thought that was all behind them. That they would never look upon this cursed place ever again, but as Spyro crawled towards it like something was taking control of him. All content and happiness was sucked from her young body, and it felt like she was going to be crushed by the wave of fear that quickly filled her bones.

"No...n-no it can't be..." Cynder uttered the words, shaking her head in disbelief. "The...Well of Souls..."

A dark laugh escaped from Spyro's mouth, but it certainly wasn't Spyro. "Spyro...is that what you call this pathetic excuse for a body?" He said, it was obviously not him, but rather a much deeper voice.

Cynder's eyes widened and she took a step back from Spyro. That wasn't his voice...that wasn't what her Spyro sounded like. Deep down in her body she felt something was wrong, but now she knew something was very, very wrong.

"Now..." He said as he placed a paw on Spyro's head. "You're mine."

"AGGGHHHH!" Spyro screamed.

"G-Get...out." Spyro growled severely as he grabbed his head with his paws.

It felt like a thousand talons were scraping across cold hard stone, the pressure on Spyro's mind almost too much to bear.

"Spyro what's going on?" Cynder gave a very audible whimper as fear started to grip her body. She wanted to go over to him and try to shake the dragon out of his episode, but something told her that she shouldn't go over to him...she felt...something dark coursing off Spyro's body, and she didn't like it at all. "Spyro!"

"Haha...you can't stop me...just accept your fate." The voice came back, as Spyro's body glowed black if just for a quick second. "What are you doing?!"

'Get...out!' Spyro shouted as he curled himself to a ball, wrenching around as if his entire body was on fire.

Spyro's body was starting to turn black, with a black wisp around him.

'No! What are you doing! Stop!' He called out in warning.

In a great big surge of energy Spyro sent a huge shockwave, shattering the ice that held his mind at bay. "Aggggghhhhhh!"

His body started to resist the evil unknown dragon spirit as his body flickered to black again and again; until finally an eruption of pure and raw power, in the form of dark purple energy, erupted from Spyro's body. Firing a Convexity Beam straight into the air from his maw that could be seen for miles around, even Warfang.

"Hello…what do you suppose that is Hawkins?" The mole who bumped into Spyro asked earlier, looking up from the canon.

"I dunno, Oadie...but something tells me it's nothing good..." Hawkins said from his seat in the canon, the beam reflected in his goggles.

'Agggghhhhhhhhhhh!' The spirit was literally pushed from his mind the same way the shockwave affected the real world. The spirit could be seen flying back in a green orb like mist back to the well of souls with much haste. However...Spyro had another problem on his paws. Black shadow enshrouded his body as he got up slowly off the ground, shaking himself to dust himself off as he looked at Cynder, not himself...and roared.

Cynder was nearly knocked back as the sudden appearance of the Convexity Beam from Spyro. She was practically scared out of her hide. Her muscles became stiff, and she suddenly found it really hard to move. The Convexity...the Well of Souls...the voice that didn't belong to Spyro...what was going on? This couldn't be the work of the Dark Master, could it?

As the smoke cleared it was clear Spyro wasn't himself at this point, black mist rolling out in waves down at Cynder's paws.

"Spyro! What's going on?!" she screamed over the tension that filled the now-thick air around them. Spyro's scales were black just like hers, but as dark as an empty void; as empty as his eyes were at this moment. She saw nothing in them; no emotion, no life...devoid of everything that used to fill Spyro's purple eyes. She shook her head rapidly, her legs shaking where she stood.

Spyro looked over at Cynder, not even recognizing her.

"No...n-no, Spyro..." she couldn't believe it: something drew out Spyro's dark side.

Spyro took a step forward, his body low to the ground as he eyes Cynder like a piece of meat. He steps became quicker and quicker until he was in a full on sprint towards her. He was running at her with reckless abandon, the heavy black mist coming from his body making a streak of black smoke behind him as he moved.

As Spyro suddenly ran at her like this, Cynder reacted as quickly as she possibly could and flipped out of his way just as he barely got her, landing on all four paws a few feet away from him.

"Spyro...don't do this!" she continued to shake her head in disbelief, wanting to believe this was all a horrible nightmare. But it wasn't. Everything in front of her was real. She knew she could just keep dodging him, but if she had to fight to save her own life...she wouldn't go down easily.

Spyro couldn't even hear himself as he charged at her. Rage filled his eyes as he charged at her, firing a convexity beam that ripped the mountain beneath them apart as he drove it towards her, creating a new path in the mountainside as crumbled rock and debris were thrown everywhere in the blast as he ran at her.

Cynder had to cover her face with her wing to keep the sharp, brittle rocks from getting in her eyes. The next thing she knew both the beam and Spyro were coming towards her. Cynder clenched her eyes shut and leaped to the side of the blast, having to do several flips to get completely out of the blast's way. She prepared herself for his next attack, readying one of her own simply to better protect herself from Spyro's ruthless onslaught.

Spyro charged at Cynder, going at her with a burst of speed as he cloaked his tail in Convexity and use his tail as a baseball bat, using his momentum to swing himself and slammed himself into her, following up from his devastating blast from earlier.

Cynder could only feel pain from this attack. She flew back and hit the rock wall with a loud cry of pain, falling to the ground in a heap. She struggled to get up and faced him, a weak growl escaping the dragoness. "Spyro...stop...it's me! Cynder!" She yelled as she charged up her fear power and with all her might, shot a blast of pure red energy his way, a loud, ear-piercing scream ripping itself from her throat.

A large and very visible glow could be seen coming from Spyro's back paws as he ran towards Cynder. With each push of his legs on the ground, a visible small crater could be seen forming from each step he took with his back paws. As he neared close enough, he released all this pent-up energy in his back feet with wreckless abandon, propelling himself towards Cynder with great speed as the ground broke beneath the crackle of energy.

"Stop Spyro! Stop!" Cynder cried out, her body shaking now. Her attack did not deter the dark side of Spyro. She didn't know what to do. Spyro was coming at her like he wanted to really hurt her, but...if he did, she knew she just wouldn't be able to get herself to retaliate and attack him back, stronger than she did before.; she couldn't hurt the dragon that meant so much to her, she just couldn't! With no other option available to her, she threw her wings in front of herself as a makeshift shield and focused her Shadow energy into them, cloaking her body in a protective barrier. Whether or not this would stop withstand the power of the Convexity...there was only one way to find out...

Spyro finally reached Cynder a dark smirk crossed his face as he fired a dark beam of Convexity energy straight at her wings, as he ran in and under stopping just short of her protective wings, ducking under them as a paw shot up grabbing her throat. Cynder suddenly found herself gasping for air with the paw around her neck, her shadow shield breaking apart into nothing.

Using the momentum he picked her up and slammed her onto the ground and on her back. There was a dark look in his eyes as he stared into hers.

'No...Spyro...' She thought, crying out in pain as she was slammed down against the ground. Her back sang with pain, and her eyes teared up heavily from the pain and what Spyro was doing to her. Her hurt-filled eyes looked back into the empty voids that were the eyes of the dark dragon holding her down. Those eyes...those horrible empty eyes...they scared her so much now and her tears came even faster.

Spyro heard a soft clicking sound and looked down to see that Cynder had connected the two pieces together...staring at it longingly Spyro finally snapped out of his rage, going back to normal as he hugged Cynder, tears streaming down his face.

The clicking of the pendants together barely registered to Cynder, but when she saw the light meet the darkness, becoming whole again...then Spyro hugged her. Cynder was still for a moment, then threw her paws around Spyro and cried into the crook of his neck.

"Cynder...what have I done?"

"Spyro...what's happened to you?" she said with a whimper in her voice, shaking in fear of this side of Spyro being so close to her, but she couldn't bring herself to throw him off when he was this vulnerable...she couldn't find it in her heart to hurt him...

He chuckled softly. He could see the fear in her eyes. They were both scared of the darkness within Spyro, and what it meant.

"I-I don't know Cynder, I was flying...and then I heard this voice. Calling out to me. It was a dragon spirit from the well of souls, wanting to drag me down with them. He said I was the reason for their damnation...I...are...are you okay?" He asked, panic in his voice, he couldn't bear the thought that he hurt Cynder.

Cynder closed her eyes tightly and shook her head, holding him close to her warm body. "Spyro...I...we...we need to get away from here..." she shivered hard at the thought of being here any longer than they were now. Even though the mountain crumbled to ruin, nothing like it was years before...the spirits still lingered around the mountain. No matter what, this place would be nothing but a place of pure evil.

"I'm...okay..." Cynder said softly, trying to ignore the pain in her back. Her heart beat was really quick, and he would be able to feel it against his chest. She knew Spyro wouldn't hurt her...she knew him better than that.

Spyro let go of her, taking back his side of the necklace as he got up. He helped her up with his tail and looked her over, he was obviously still concerned, looking her over for any bruises or scrapes. "You sure you'll be alright?" He asked.

"I couldn't agree with you more Cynder, let's...let's go." Spyro said as he gingerly licked her neck in apology. "Maybe I should fly ahead this time...just in case?" He said, as he lifted up his paw, and his flank had a scrape on it from his tumbled landing.

Cynder struggled to get on her paws, her side of the pendent swaying under her neck. She looked back at her wings and slowly spread them, wincing when they reached their full wingspan. "I think so...my back really hurts..." she said softly, the muscles in her back throbbing like mad. They hurt, but she knew she would be able to make it back to the Temple. At least she hoped.

"Good idea Spyro...let's just get out of here!" she said, then noticed him rubbing his flank. "You're not hurt, are you Spyro?" she asked as she got close to look at his scraped flank. It looked like a minor injury, but she was still concerned about him, the same way he was for her.

"It's but a scratch Cynder...you...look like you're in a bit of pain." He said as concerned as he began stretching. Before they took off flying again, back to their original destination. Spyro looked to Cynder as he spread his wings. "You sure you can make it?"

Cynder shook her head and flapped her wings a few times to test out her wings. "They're a little bruised but nothing I haven't dealt with before."she said softly as the clouds began to darken overhead and the wind picked up. The dark presence surrounding them grew stronger, and she looked over at Spyro.

"Let's just get out of her. Now." she said hastily as she flapped her wings hard and lifted herself into the air. She winced in slight discomfort and lost some of her lift, but quickly recovered from it. She would have a few bruises, but she would survive.

Spyro nodded in solemn understanding to her and took off without another word, towards the place they called home. Away from the Well of Souls, away from his darker half...away from himself for a while. Spyro sighed heavily as he looked over to the well of Souls one last time.

'Spyyyrrooo..." wailed the voice from the Well of Souls in defiance on last time.

"I'll come back here one day...and when I do I'll be ready." He said to himself.

Cynder shrugged off the discomfort in her back and flew after Spyro, keeping him in front of her the entire time. She wanted to put this all behind her for good; she was done with the Dark Master, done until Spyro was ready to conquer his inner demons that plagued him.

"Let's go home Spyro..." she said softly to the purple dragon as she came up to his side, leaving the Mountain of Malefor and the lingering spirits behind them.

Spyro landed softly on the balcony of the Temple, that overlooked the garden. "It's good to be back finally." Spyro said as he entered the training room. "We're back!" Spyro called, wondering where the guardians were. They soon came from their respective rooms, rushing down the hall to greet the pair of dragons at the balcony. Volteer was the first to enter, followed by Cyril.

Cynder let out a light grunt as she touched down on the balcony. Her muscles were still a little sore but it didn't bother her at all anymore. She went after Spyro into the training room, the sight of the Temple interior very comforting after what they just went through; even more so when she saw two of the three Guardians.

"My word Spyro where were you, what happened, we were so worried, exhausted, concerned, we had feared..."

"Yes yes Volteer we all feared for the young dragons safety after what we saw a few hours ago. Are you alright young dragons?" Cyril asked referring to the blat of Convexity energy Spyro shot up in the air. It was visible for miles.

"I'm fine...Cyril. Volteer. But...where is Terrador."

"Right here." Terrador said as he was the last to enter.

"We're both fine..." Cynder said softly as she sat down beside Spyro. "We had a very busy day..." She said softly, looking over at Spyro with an expression that read: 'should we tell them about what happened?'

Cynder wasn't too crazy about the idea of telling the Guardians what happened at the Well of Souls; she didn't want them to worry about them too much, as it was all over now... but they'd seen the Convexity beam for sure, so there wasn't any hiding it from them. Unless they pressed them for details, she would keep her mouth shut if Spyro would too.

"We were jut training is all. It's nothing we couldn't handle. Right Cynder?" Spyro asked. He wouldn't want to hazard a guess of what the Guardians would say or do to him if they realized he had that sort of power within him.

'Would they still look at me the same? Would they treat me any different?' He thought. He shoved these negative thoughts from his mind as all attention turned to Cynder.

Cynder nodded her head as casually as she could, managing to do so successfully. "Yep...nothing too major. Just enough to tire us out a little, that's all." She said softly.

She hoped their lie would be convincing enough. She didn't want Spyro's power to come to the Guardian's knowledge; she didn't want to think about what would happen if they ever found it, so it would just be better for everyone if they didn't..."Although now Spyro and I could use some training..." Cynder continued.

"But didn't you just say you were training?" Volteer asked.

"Volteer, you and I both know there is nothing compared to training in the temple." Spyro said smoothly.

"Well you have a point there, young dragon..." Volteer said. The two other Guardians nodded their heads at each and Cyril said.

"Well just be sure you two clean up the training room after you are done."

"We will Cyril." Spyro said giving a nod. "Alright run along you two, we won't keep you waiting." Terrador said, chuckling.

Suddenly Volteer seemed to be completely intrigued by the necklaces Spyro and Cynder wore when he noticed them.

"Why Spyro I dare say, where did you get those necklaces, they look to be at least 2nd century in origin. Why I haven't seen old age cheetah craftmanship like since I was a hatchling, they are so fascinating, where did you get them?' Volteer asked, hyper as ever as his nose was literally glued onto Spyro's chest looking at his side of the necklace before looking at Cynder's as well.

"Well...I, ugh..." Spyro blushed a bit at the mentioning of the necklace rubbing the back of his head with his paw. He was a bit flustered and didn't know how to say it.

With a soft blush on her face, opening her mouth to say something when Volteer came so close. She didn't expect the yellow-scaled Guardian to get so intrigued by their necklaces. Finally though, she spoke up.

"Well...a friend of ours at Warfang let us have them, to well...repay us for saving him." Cynder said, reaching up to place a paw on the onyx necklace. "They're nice, aren't they, Volteer?" she asked, looking up at the larger dragon.

"Oh yes, I dare say downright intriguing. I have never seen anything like them before..." Volteer said as he stared at them for a bit.

"Ugh. yes well...thank you Volteer." Spyro said as he blushed heavily with how close Volteer was getting too. Volteer cupped Spyro's necklace in his paw.

"And you say a mole gave this to you? I wonder how he ever came about this...this is very odd indeed. It is rather rare to find jewelry made from the cheetahs of that era. Because most of their jewelry worshipped dragons and after Malefor came into power...they sort of...lost their relevancy." Volteer replied.

"Yes yes yes, the necklaces are rather enthralling Volteer, but let's make sure they are okay first before badgering them about silly jewelry." Cyril replied.

Cynder nodded her head and smiled softly. It had been a while since either of them trained at the Temple, and she wanted to brush up on her techniques, and work on keeping her moves in-sync with Spyro's.

With that all taken care of, Cynder cleared her throat.

"Well then..." she smiled. "Let's go Spyro." She smiled at Spyro. Cynder was the first to trot off towards the training room. As she passed up Spyro, her tail accidentally brushed up against Spyro's neck. The large wood door that lead to the training room slid open for her with a stiff, solid creak, and she vanished inside the room.

Spyro walked in close behind Cynder. "So Cynder, what do you think we should work on? Elemental attacks...melee?"

Not too long after, Terrador entered the room. "Spyro, Cynder. I've known you two long enough to know, that solo...you two can handle yourselves against pretty much anything. But the one thing you two need to learn, is how to use your gifts to help complement one another." Terrador said as the dragon statue began move, sliding beneath the floor...a sight Spyro hadn't seen since her first started training and learning the elements for the first time.

After the statue was gone and the floor a wide open space, Terrador noted a new enemy. Since he couldn't use those darn filthy ape captives as training dummies anymore, he had to improvise.

"Cyril. Volteer." Terrador called. A few minutes later the two other Guardians came in.

"Help me make some elementals. I want to test their teamwork." Terrador said.

"Ohohoho, don't forget to take off your necklaces young dragons. Wouldn't want to lose them now would you?" Volteer said.

Cynder blinked as she saw Cyril and Volteer come in the training room. Cynder knew not to expect to use the Ape dummies for target practice now that they were practically non-existant with their former Master gone, and she didn't know what they'd be using this time around, either.

"Oh, you're right, Volteer." Cynder nodded and slid the necklace off her neck, looking down at it as she held it in her paw. "Here, Spyro. Let's keep them together." she said as she smiled over at her companion, setting the necklace down on the floor in between them with the split side facing towards Spyro.

"Cyril, Volteer, what will we be training with?" Cynder asked as her tail swayed back and forth across the dusty floor of the Temple training room.

"I'm pretty sure we can trust Volteer with them right? I just don't think it's wise to leave them on the floor." Spyro said as he looked at the necklaces. Volteer gasped at the sudden. "Oh you wouldn't mind that would you?"

Cyril put his face in his paw. 'Like...a hatchling...in a room full of dragonflies...'

Cyril looked up to answer Cynder's question. "Why elementals of course. You've heard of those..right Cynder? I would think with your time being with Dark Master you've seen a few. They are like golems, but can only be hurt by one element. Their own." Cyril replied.

Cynder smiled a little and nodded her head. "Well...as long as he promises not to handle them too hard..." she said, then turned her attention to the ice dragon.

"I have, Cyril, but I'm not too familiar with them. I saw a few " She said. When she was still on the side of the Dark Master she saw a few of such creatures among the legions of Apes. The memories were vague, but she might have commanded over a few of them at some point in her service to Malefor.

"Of course, I'll be as soft as a feather, as gentle as a bird's song, as.."

"Okay, Volteer...we get it." Spyro chuckled as he handed over the necklaces to him. "Just sit back and watch."

Volteer nodded as he gently took the necklaces.

"Now after you see us do it...Spyro...Cynder. You two are going to need to be able to make this training dummies yourself. Their rather weak, and impractical for any real use in fighting. But here. It's okay to use them here. Since none of use Gaurdians have the elements you do...you'll have to make your own if you want to be effective." He said referring to Cynder specifically.

"More specifically...watch me and Cyril." Terrador said.

Cynder nodded her head as she sat back to watch what Cyril and Terrador, looking over at Spyro every now and then. After making it out of that mess together, she felt...so much closer to him than before. She felt those same butterflies that swarmed her stomach back at Warfang when they shared their first - albeit accidental - first kiss. Just thinking about it made her warm up all over, but for the moment she put those thoughts to the back of her mind as she focused her attention on the Ice and Earth Guardians.

Terrador and Cyril both their put their paws together on this one, as they hadn't made elementals in quiet some time. Because of Malefor, it was consider taboo to do so nowadays, but Cyril and Terrador never the less wanted the savior of the realms to learn something this day. Using the earth, Terrador thought up of the shape he wanted in his mind's eye and using his earth powers an arm came out of the earth, the earth making a bulge for the fist and forearm while a tree root was loosely attached followed by a body which looked to be made of earth mostly then the head came up and emerged, giving the golem a sort of knightlike appearance. But it was only half an elemental? Why was that? The answer soon came when out of the ground and using the moisture from the air, Cyril crafted the other half. His half looked sort of skeletal in comparison, but the legs, arm and head of the elemental was all the same size. Looking like a chilly undead soldier, Cyril gae it an ice axe to wield even.

This took much concentration on both their parts, but due to their years of experience it was like second nature to them.

"Go on Spyro...try and knock it out. See what happens." Cyril said smirking.

Cynder stood up and examined the product of Cyril and Terrador's elemental powers. But during her entire service to Malefor she'd never seen an elemental made of two different elements at once. The sight of the half-earth half-ice elemental knight with a different shaped body structure on each side was...amazing. She could only guess how this was going to end up turning out. She looked over at Spyro and smiled.

"Yeah, go ahead Spyro...I'm rooting for you." she said as she smiled at the purple dragon.

Spyro, knowing at least one side was earth and opened his mouth, a green orb glowing in it as he charged up his attack, and firing it much like he did an icicle, fired the earth missile attack right at the two elemental creature. But only one side was affected, and it looked like the earth side was starting to build itself back up.

"You see Spyro, if you don't attack it with the same element on either side, it won't be destroyed. If this was perhaps something Cynder could hit, you two would have to come up with ways to attack." Terrador said.

"Thanks Terrador. I think I get what you want us to do." Spyro said smiling back at the Earth and Ice guardian.

"Great...now I'm sure you two know what to do...come Terrador, Volteer. We have a game of freeze tag we need to continue." Cyril said as he smirked widely walking out of the room.

"If you two have any trouble we'll be in the courtyard. Just practice. I'm sure you two will get the hang of making your own special elementals." Terrador said, before quickly.

Wow, this sounded rather challenging. It now became clear to Cynder why they made such an elemental golem. With Malefor gone there was no guarantee they would even come across such a creature, but that wasn't the point of this exercise; as they said before, Spyro and Cynder need to learn how to compliment each other; to work in tandem to take down their foes. They could already do that with some ease, but only a foolish one turns down the chance to learn more.

'Interesting...' Cynder thought to herself. 'The golem is rebuilding itself...but how can I help? I don't know how to use electricity.'

She made sure to give her thanks to the Guardians before they left, then turned back and looked at the golem that stood there, waiting for their attacks.

"Spyro, how can I possibly help here?" Cynder asked as she took a few steps towards him. "I can't even use either element that golem is made of."

Before leaving Terrador looked at the golem. "Come on Spyro, I'll help you with this one. But just this once." Terrador said as he looked down at Spyro and they both nodded their head. Terrador did much the same thing as Spyro did, going for an earth missile, but Spyro did something rather surprising as he went in for close. Following up behind, and knowing only a simultaneous hit would destroy the golem, Terrador only wanted to fire his shot at the right time. Spyro encased his tail in ice, ducking under the axe swing as Terrador fired his shot at the golem's right side, while Spyro's tail crashed through it's chest shattering it.

"Alright!" Spyro said excitedly as the golem was destroyed.

Cynder smiled as she watched the golem crumble to nothing. Now, she understood more of what their goal was here today. But a question still lingered in her head.

"Terrador..." Cynder spoke up as she looked up at the larger dragon. "I can't use any of Spyro's elements. How could I possibly help him against that kind of golem?"

"That's the point Cynder. You don't have to use any of Spyro's elements. Just use what you have. You two have to make your own golems in order to train, such is why me and Cyril showed you how. You get to learn two things in one day I know you two can do it." Terrador said as he smiled at Cynder.

Cynder nodded at Terrador's words, then looked over at Spyro with a smile. "Well then, what do you say Spyro? Want to give it a try?" she asked, her tail whipping around behind her.

"Of course Cynder." Spyro said, giving her a grin as his tail was doing much the same n anticipation.

Many hours passed as both Spyro and Cynder had tried their hardest to create an elemental like Cyril and Terrador had. They had tried many combinations, poison and earth, fire and fear, shadow and ice. But they just weren't getting something down. Why were they not doing right?By this time they had been very fortunate that they did not run out of energy. Spyro was huffing and puffing, looking a smidge exhausted from his efforts with Cynder as he looked back out on the balcony to check what time it was.

"Wow...it's practically midday Cynder." He said smiling. "Let's try one more..." Spyro said as he looked to Cynder.

"Okay, Spyro..." Cynder said softly as she stretched her body out, popping the bones in her neck with a soft grunt. "I'm getting pretty tired from all the training, so one more sounds good..." she nodded, taking in long, deep breaths as she sat down for a few minutes to catch her breath. "Which combination should we try this time?"

"Let's try wind and fire...after all these elements do work rather well together." Spyro replied, a new look of determination in his eye.

Cynder perked up a little at this and smiled. "Good idea Spyro. Wind and fire it is, then." she said, getting ready to use her wind element for their last attempt to build an elemental golem. Hopefully it would work this time around.

"Okay let's do it Cynder..." Spyro said as he breathed out a stream of fire, where Cynder let out some wind to carry the flames. The wind dances around the flame, molding it into hands, some feet, and even a head. The whole fire golem was kept together by the wind on the outside, giving the elemental it's rather bulky shape. Spyro could swear it was about the same size as on of the elemental foes he had to defeat back at the Chronicler's place all those years ago, only without the armor. It's hands of fire were bulky, it's chest wide, but the middle wasn't even there. A small wind spere in the middle connecting both the top and bottom half together.

It held a sword made of wind, and Spyro was so happy he completely forgot it was an enemy. "We did it Cynder!" Right then and there the sword came crashing down in between them.

"Oh right!" Spyro said as he reflectively sidestepped to the left.

"I sure hope you have a plan Cynder."

Cynder looked back and forth between Spyro and the impressive golem they created, avoiding an attack from the creature's axe by doing a graceful sideways backflip, sliding across the floor of the training room. Of all the golems that manifested inside the training room, this one their most intimidating and threatening up to this point.

"Um...oh, I've got it!" she suddenly got an idea. "Come over here Spyro! Quickly!" she said as she started to flap her wings with her paws firmly planted on the floor.

Spyro ran over to Cynder while ducking under, jumping over, and deflecting three fireballs that came his way and when he finally reached Cynder he called "Here!"

Cynder quickly grabbed Spyro by his forepaws and managed to get them both up on there hindlegs. "Hold on tight Spyro!" she said as the golem started to charge in their direction. Closing her eyes tightly she quickly spun her wings rapidly and started to spin their bodies around, quickly picking up speed until the two dragons were in the middle of a thick gale force that echoed through the training chamber.

Spyro smirked, surprised that his mate would come up with such a plan so quickly as he held onto her neck tightly. Spyro opened his maw and released a stream of fire that, when coming into contact with the strong gale caused a massive flare to erupt into a massive spinning tornado of flame, sucking the air out of the chamber and blowing thick flames across the room. It dragged the creature in due to the rotation of the tornado, spinning it above their heads and bathing it in flames., the creature letting out a loud "Agghhhhroooooaaa" as it died and turned back into its most basic form.

"Great idea."

Cynder smiled brightly when she heard the creature let out an agonizing groan as it died. She opened her eyes to look at the giant inferno that surrounded them, and instantly regretted it. Somehow she completely lost control of her own whirlwind. They spun faster and faster until Cynder cried out, then she and Spyro were suddenly sent in a very awkward sideways spin that sent them tumbling through the air, with Spyro still holding onto her.

"W-Whoa!" Cynder cried out as she and Spyro hit and rolled across the floor several times, completely knocking the wind out of both of the young, overworked dragons.

Spyro let out a loud "OOF!" As the wind was indeed knocked out of his chest. His body was entagled with hers, him lying over top of her in a messy. "You alright Cynder?" Spyro asked, as soon as he caught his breath and tried standing up, if only slightly getting his left paw out from behind Cynder's right forearm.

Cynder grunted softly and clenched her teeth as she rubbed the back of her head. "Yeah, I'm fine Spyro..." she responded, lifting her head off the hard floor of the training room to see how tangled up they were. "Um...Spyro?" she said softly, a deep blush showing up on her face. That rough landing from the whirlwind mishap left them in a rather...awkward situation...

"Y-Yeah Cynder?" He said as he blushed rather heavily at how awkward this was too, his tail swaying to and fro gently. 'Is it just me, or is starting to...get hot in here?' Spyro thought as he could feel Cynder's moist hot breath hit the back of his neck.

She was rather speechless at this point. Cynder didn't pull away, mainly because she was under the other dragon. This was really, really sudden, just like what happened in Warfang. "I um...think I got a little carried away with...my whirlwind, didn't I?" she said softly as she started to feel hot just like Spyro was, a different thought entering her head, part of her wondering if and when Spyro was going to climb off of her...

"Maybe just a little." he said, blushing largely as he finally positioned himself to where he was face to face with her...wrapping his tail around hers a bit, trying to get some leverage to move his back right leg from under her back left.

Cynder blushed deeply at the feel of his tail on hers. Almost on instinct she wrapped her tail much more firmly around his, then realized what she was doing. "I...I..." she stammered out nervously as she pressed her paws against his chest, looking up into his eyes. The look in her eyes was much different than it normally was; it contained...something that could only be described as either embarrassment or...a growing passion...

Spyro looked into the depths of her soul before asking "Y-yeah...Cynder?" He asked as his muzzle got closer and closer to hers...their muzzles almost touching as his paw came to rest on the middle of her chest. His eyes seemed to be speaking the same thing. Almost as if he could...feel someting calling to him. Her eyes...he couldn't take his gaze away from her eyes. They seemed to be asking him something as his face grew cherry red...for the second time in less than a day.

Cynder didn't take her own eyes away from Spyro's purple ones. She couldn't and simply didn't want to. Her heart beat rapidly, and her pulse raced. With their muzzles nearly making contact her warm breath pillowed over his nose. Then, she closed the gap and pressed their snouts together. She had never felt this much closeness to the purple dragon that stole her heart.

"Spyro...please stay here..." she whispered softly as she kept both paws on his chest, her own raising slowly against his. Parts of them were still tangled together, but she did not want him to get off...not at this moment, or even ever...

"I wouldn't dream of leaving...where else would I have to go...but...with...you." He said as he licked the tip of her muzzle, the intimate contact giving him butterflies in his stomach, but he wanted to stay as he gently grabbed a paw off of his chest holing it in his. "I...Cynder is...is this what you want?" His pleading eyes asked, he could feel his heart race being this close to the only dragoness that ever made him feel whole.

Cynder smiled at the sound of his words, shivering at the lick she received and returning the lick to Spyro's own. The contact they shared made her feel so warm all over, she couldn't describe how great it felt to be so close to Spyro. She kept her paw in his own, gently and happily pressing her forehead against his chest. She felt his warmth and his beating heart; it was so comforting and reminded her so much of where she belonged: with him, and only him.

"Yes, Spyro..." she responded in her soft, sweet voice, lifting her other paw and gently setting it on the side of his face as she looked back deeply into his eyes. "This is all I've ever wanted...the only thing I could want...is to be with you."

"Then...take it. I won't fight..." He said as he gently kissed her, only this time...it wasn't an accident as he wrapped his paws around her neck. His eyes closed as he pressed forward with all the love and passion one could ever give to another.

The will also be the final chapter. Just wanted everyone to know that.

Read & Review!