Chapter 3

Searching

Meanwhile, Hunter had already returned to his home in Avalar. He had taken Cynder and Sparx there, seeing as they had nowhere else to go. After breaking Spyro free, he knew that he would escape without his help. Plus Hunter hadn't wanted to get caught.

The feline strode into a well-furnished cave, which was his home. He liked it there because it was so peaceful, normally. When anything went wrong he was always ready to spring into action. He set his bow and quiver full of arrows down on a small dining table. He figured that Sparx and Cynder were in their guest room, so he went and checked.

He heard Cynder's voice from inside. He opened the door to their room slowly.

" But what if Spyro doesn't like …" she stopped midsentence and glanced over at the intruder. She was quiet for a second then blurted out, " Well, is Spyro O.K? Where is he? Did he escape…"

Hunter stopped her stream of questions. " Whoa, take it easy. One question at a time. Yeah Spyro's fine. He should've escaped without any problem. Where is he? Not a clue. Did he escape? Like I said probably."

Cynder looked a little worried. " What do you mean 'should've'? Weren't you there? You should know."

" Look the thing is… I just broke him out. Chances are he got away. There weren't too many apes on the inside, so he probably didn't have any problems there. I took out all of the guards on the battlements so they shouldn't have caused any trouble," he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck with his paw.

" Hunter," Cynder sighed. " You mean you don't have a clue where he is? How do you know he got out? He could have been captured again, or worse! What if the Dark Master has already killed him?"

Sparx tried to calm her down. " Cynder, relax. I know Spyro and he's fine. He's probably looking for us right now."

Cynder turned away from the two of them and was silent for a while. " That's just it. Spyro doesn't have a clue where we are. If we stay here, he'll never find us. Look, Hunter, you've helped us out a lot and I'm grateful for that, but it's time I leave. I need to find Spyro. I have to know if he's all right." She turned to face the two again. " You can come if you want Sparx, but you can stay here if you like."

" Are you kidding? Of course I want to go with you. Spyro's my bro and I want to know what happened to him just as much as you do." Sparx answered. He hated to show how he really cared about him.

As Cynder and Sparx tried to leave, Hunter blocked the doorway. " I'm going with you. It's my fault if Spyro does or has gotten captured. I want to help you find him."

Sparx and Cynder knew they had no choice but to let him come with them. He probably knew the land better than they did anyway. So that was that, and the three set off on their journey to find Spyro. It wouldn't be easy, but they knew they would find him eventually.

Spyro followed Ignitus through a thick forest. They had given up flying hours ago. They hadn't wanted to be seen. Spyro was exhausted and wanted to stop to rest, but he knew they had to keep moving. They continued on in silence, Ignitus leading him to a place only he knew the location of.

As they journeyed on, the land was becoming more and more familiar. Suddenly Spyro knew where he was. He turned to his right where a large hill stood. On the top was the temple, standing proud and silent. Spyro stopped walking and gazed up at the beautiful structure. The last time he had seen it, it was mainly a pile of rubble. With the raid on it three years ago plus the apes living in it, it had been a mess. But now it was completely restored.

Ignitus noticed that Spyro was no longer following him and turned around. He saw him standing still and peering through the trees at something. The Fire Guardian went over to him and followed his gaze. While Spyro stared in awe at the temple, Ignitus seemed very suspicious. Something wasn't right.

Suddenly a giant dragon appeared on top of the temple. He was too far away for them to see what color he was. The dragon raised his right paw above his head as small streaks of purple lightning began to circle around it frantically. After a few moments he brought his paw smashing down on the temple and dug his claws into the stone. From where the dragon had his paw, the temple slowly began to turn a dark purple color. It spread until the whole temple was the same dark color.

When it was done, the dragon released his paw from the stone. Rising up on his hind legs, he let out a triumphant roar and took off into the sky in the opposite direction of the two dragons watching him.

The purple dragon turned to Ignitus with a confused look on his face.

Ignitus looked very grim. He was quiet for a second then finally spoke. " So he's finally done it. I always knew he would."

Spyro was even more confused. " Ignitus, what are you talking about?"

The fire dragon turned to face him. " That dragon was the Dark Master. It looks like he's come to take the temple as his own."

" Why?" Spyro asked.

" The temple is where he grew up and where he was exiled from. It is the last place of hope in these dark times. But he has taken over it, and corrupted it to make it a place of darkness and for all to lose hope."

Spyro continued his questions. " Why does he want to rule over the temple instead of the Well of Souls? It's his mountain. I expected him to destroy the temple, not rule over it."

" Young dragon, don't you see? You destroyed the Mountain of Malefor. The Dark Master needs a place to go until he is in complete control. Now enough of your questions. We must find the other Guardians and fast. We are far too close to Malefor and his minions."

With that, Ignitus turned and began the journey again, quickening his pace. Spyro looked at the corrupted temple one last time then followed the fire dragon.

They traveled on for a while until they came to the opening of a small cave. Ignitus went inside without a second thought. He formed a fireball in his paw to light the way through the dark passage. They came to the end abruptly. Ignitus strode up to the rock wall in front of him and put his left paw on it. He began to chant quietly.

" I am the Fire Guardian, full of light,

save us all from Malefor's might.

Open now, don't reject my call,

send the light to defend us all."

Strange symbols appeared all over the wall and glowed bright orange. Slowly the rock wall in front of them began to lift up, exposing a secret passage behind it.

A familiar voice came from inside. " We've been expecting you, Ignitus."

Well that's chapter 3. Took me a while to put it up. Hope you liked it. Chapter 4 should be up too, so watch for it.