Chapter two: A New Responsibility
The dragon temple was very quiet indeed, aside from the chirping birds outside and the pitter-patter of mice running along the stone floor. The temple was exactly as Spyro had remembered it: the dragon statue that lowered into the floor was still in it's same place and the temple was still breaking apart slowly due to old age and the damage done by the war. There were numerous scratches and missing tiles along the floor. It broke Terrador's heart seeing this, although he would never show it. The temple to be such a peaceful place, full of baby dragon eggs and a school for those they taught. The field over looked by the temple balcony used to be full with lush, green grass blades. Now it was a desolate wasteland. All grass was gone, and dried streaks of blood littered the ground. The temple would never be the same again, but they all had to learn to live with it. The sun was starting to go down, and an aura of red, orange, and purple filled the sky. Thousands of stars littered the sky, along with several shooting stars that flew across. It was night like this Cynder liked most. She loved looking up to the stars, closing her eyes, and scrunching up her nose to make a wish. She never got her wish, of course, but she always wished for something different each night. She would never tell Spyro or Sparx or anyone, even though they would sometimes hear her. One time she wished she could be a normal dragon, and to make it come true, Spyro and Sparx had a big party for her when they were young. She almost cried of excitement and all night Spyro, Cynder, and Sparx partied all night long. It's been so long since anything good happened before the death of Malefor.
Spyro and Cynder followed Terrador into the room of the vision pool, and circled around it. Terrador stood on the far side of it as Spyro and Cynder spread out a bit on the other side. The circling green water seemed to flow in an endless loop as the dragons stood above it. The door closed behind them and the candles in the room seemed to die down, leaving the dragons in a room of dark.
"Spyro. Cynder. I have an urgent matter to discuss with you." Cynder gulped as Spyro discreetly fidgeted his paws in the darkness.
"Yes Terrador?" Spyro said through a mouth of nervousness. Terrador straightened up tall and spoke again.
"As you all know, the death of Ignitus is highly unfortunate." Spyro again slumped his head.
"But on a different note, this has left our kind in want. We are in need of a leader. Someone who could make the decisions for the people. Someone who could lead our armies into battle when necessary. Though… we are not sure who to elect." Spyro and Cynder looked at each other an then back to Terrador.
"Well… who has the most experience in military tactics?" Terrador thought for a moment.
"No one was better than Ignitus, but other than him, I was."
"Then why can't you?" Cynder asked him.
"Because I am too old to lead a civilization. Believe it or not, Ignitus was many years younger than I." Spyro did not know this. He thought they were all the same age; maybe they were like close friends or something. But he never thought that the four guardians would be younger or older than the others.
"Then who's the youngest guardian?" Spyro asked quizzically.
"Ignitus was the youngest. He just barely fit the age requirement to have this job."
"But why would age matter? I'd think that a older dragon would be a wiser dragon." Cynder said. Terrador smiled.
"Yes, young one, but age plays a very important part. If a dragon leader is young, then he or she would be able to lead for longer. If we had a bunch of old dragons, like myself, then this world would not be in order. At least not permanently."
"Well, then, who do you think should take this role?" Spyro asked.
"I wasn't very sure who. But your brother, Spyro, gave me an idea." Spyro and Cynder looked at each other, then slowly looked back to Terrador.
"Who?"
"He had an idea for a co-leadership… for you and Cynder." This was like the blunt side of a tail blade to their face. It came out of nowhere to them, and even more, they had no idea how to lead a government.
"Terrador… I ugh… I don't know what to say." Cynder began.
"I do. We are mere hatchlings to this world. How do you think that we can rule something a million times greater than us?" Spyro argued. He did not want this job! It would only give him and Cynder more stress to deal with. Plus, they would not have enough time for themselves or each other.
"Spyro, please understand. We need you now more than ever. You must realize that you are the youngest, and most capable dragons to do this job. Of course, we'd have to get the councils' permission." Spyro sighed and shook his head.
"I can't Terrador. I know that you need me and I'm flattered believe me… but you've got the wrong dragon." Just then Cynder nudged him, then bobbed her head towards the wall, indicating that she wanted to tell him something in private.
"Excuse us." Cynder said, leading Spyro over to the wall.
"Spyro… what are you doing? This is what you have been training for."
"But I can't do it. I'm just not ready."
"You are stronger than any dragon in this world. You are the only one that can command every single element we know of, and even then you have mastered your hand-to-hand combat. How are you not ready?" Spyro looked down.
"Because we won't have time for us." Cynder picked his head up.
"We'll be fine Spyro. Please, don't throw this away because of me. You know this is what you want. Now go for it!" She said trying to get him enthusiastic. Spyro sighed then walked back to Terrador.
"Terrador… we accept." Terrador gave another smile.
"I don't know what you said to him Cynder, but you seem to have changed his mind somehow." Spyro forced a chuckle as he glared at Cynder. All she did was smile and stick her tongue out.
"So when do we start Terrador?" Spyro asked the earth guardian after breaking his glare from Cynder.
"Not for a while young one. We still need to convince the counsel of your worthiness to this task."
"But… we just saved the world! Why would they deny us this privilege?" Cynder asked a little hurt.
"They are going to be very grateful for that. But that trouble is done and this new one is different entirely. We will go to the dragon city tomorrow to bring up this idea, but even then it will take weeks, even months, for their decision to be clear. Cynder stamped her paw annoyed, but Spyro took a relived sigh. They had time before they had to carry out this responsibility. Terrador laughed at Cynder's display.
"Don't let this trouble you young dragoness. You, and Spyro, will have your chance do great things as Ignitus did. And Cynder…" Cynder looked up at Terrador.
"It is about your past." Cynder then hung her head in shame.
Here it comes. She thought.
"I talked to the council, and they have made a decision. That decision, is to forget all crimes you have done in your past." Cynder was shocked. She looked up, her eyes wide open, her eyes starting to water.
"What?" Cynder asked him, hoping he said what she thought he said.
"You are here by repented of all your past crimes. Never shall you have to endure rude comments and glare. Now and forevermore, you are not seen as your former self, but what you are now." Cynder started laughing and crying at the same time. She couldn't hold in her happiness so she turned to face Spyro and attacked him with a massive bear hug. She let go of him to let him breathe, and then looked up at Terrador.
"Thank you! Thank you so much Terrador!" Terrador gave her a nod with a smile on his face, but then his face went serious again.
"I hate to break such a happy moment, but there is one other thing I must tell you about." Cynder stopped laughing as well, although her smile was still pasted on her face.
"What is that?" Spyro asked.
"When you destroyed Malefor, what happened? Did you kill him?" Spyro and Cynder both looked at each other, with her smile faded away by now.
"Yeah… well kind of. The spirits came and took him." Terrador lowered his head, then brought it back up to look at them.
"I thought you said you killed him."
"We did… well we saw him die." Cynder objected.
"No, he was returned to the spirit world. The same realm where he was brought back if he was brought back once, he can be again."
"But… how?" Spyro asked, worried.
"Malefor had more than Cynder for minions. He has many other dragons that could bring him back. "
"Then we'll have to defend the soul plate. We need to keep the minions of Malefor away." Cynder stated.
The soul plate is what they called the floating platform where the realm was an entrance to the spirit realm. This is where Cynder brought Malefor back, and where Spyro saved Cynder from her torment.
"You are correct Cynder. We have alerted Chief Prowlus and his cheetahs to meet Malefor's minions if they do try to have him return."
"Do you really believe that they can hold them off long enough for it to matter? I mean, I trust them as much as you, but they are a broken army. Their loss was great in the war." Spyro stated.
"Young dragon. Although what you say is true, I have faith in their ranks. They can hold their own, and in times like this… that is sorely needed." Spyro and Cynder nodded, for they knew how strong the cheetahs were.
"That is all I wanted to tell you. Just be warned: If everything does not go as well as it is planned… then there will be another war. And Malefor will not show mercy this time."
"Mercy? He never had shown mercy towards us." Spyro said.
"If you think about it, he did. He could have destroyed us long before Warfang was attacked. He was toying with us."
"That's putting it mildly isn't it?" Cynder put in.
"Spyro, please understand, these are troubling times, and the people need heroes. They need dragons they can look up to. For when Malefor returns, you and Cynder, will need to act before he does. Every time he returns to the Spirit realm, he gets stronger as he returns here. Next time you cross him… kill him. Do not let the spirits take him." Spyro looked over to Cynder, who nodded back.
"Alright Terrador. We're ready. I'm not going to need to prepare a speech will I?" Terrador chuckled.
"Most likely yes you will. You need to say words the people will remember. Something that will give them hope.
"Perfect." Spyro said under his breath. Cynder giggled and looked back to him.
"You'll do fine, Spyro. Just say what you need to say." She said looking into his eyes.
"Ok… I'll try." Terrador nodded his head.
"Spyro, Cynder… no one besides us here at the temple can know about this. World-wide panic is not what we want." Spyro nodded his head.
"Then… you two are free to go. Get some rest." Spyro instantly agreed as he yawned, showing off his white, sharp fangs, then smacking this lips afterwards. The two dragons left the room, and retired down the hall to their rooms.
"What do you think will happen?" Cynder asked Spyro as they walked down the narrow hallway.
"I'm not sure. But trouble is brewing, Cynder, and soon we will be the only ones that can stop it."
"You're right." They soon came to Spyro's room, where Cynder was to leave him to go to bed. Their bedrooms were right down the hall from each other. Ignitus had them share different rooms for… specific reasons.
"Goodnight Spyro."
"Goodnight Cynder." As Cynder was walking down the hall, Spyro caught her head with his tail, brought it to his, then gave her a small peck on this cheek.
"Awww Spyro!" She said, blushing red like a rose. Spyro smiled then as they both said bye and goodnight again, they left for their beds and found peace in a world of dreams.