They journey began to become restless as the plains slowly transformed into deserts, then into oceans, then back into plains. Cynder knew where Spyro was, just not where. His presence stung and tingled like a wasp stranded in her heart. Her mind could find out where he was hiding. But her eyes didn't know where this place was. Through all the strength and courage he had, Spyro was a coward. Striking his strongest foe, then hiding. Disgusting. Utterly disgusting.
Spyro awoke to find himself in a place he had never seen before. It was like no place anyone had ever seen before. There was a sea of darkness before him that reflected the purple clouds above him. However, there was no sign of land anywhere. He sat on the glassy surface of the water. It didn't take long for Spyro to realize that the water felt like it was burning. Only he liked it. He got up and began to walk around the endless ocean. Small ripples appeared where his feet touched it. In the very center of it all was a mirror. No fancy frame or border, just a tall, straight, flat column of glass. When he approached, his reflection was there all right. The reflection was older, stronger and had a look of pure darkness in his eyes.
"Hello there Spyro. Are you ready to begin your next level of transformation?" the reflection asked, smiling.
"Wait a minute! Where are we? What is this? How did you… how did I… Why is this happening?" Spyro shouted. The cloudy skies above swirled with the anger of a temptest.
"This place is a creation of our own. Our mind. The one place of solitude left from the rest of the world. When I was defeated by… her, I was trapped within the confounds of my own mind. As soon as he finished, the younger Spyro felt his scales grow longer and harder. Spyro's claws began to bend just ever so slightly, if they were to scratch someone, they would get caught. "I see my predictions were correct. Only three more stages to go and you and I will be one." Said the older Spyro.
"What do you mean by we will be one?" Younger Spyro demanded, his voice rising.
"Ever since we were hatched, we had special powers, that was obvious. Our powers were different, no the typical purple dragon thing. Not even the typical Dark Master thing. These powers began to expand and grow slowly over our lifespan. Cynder had small changes going here and there, but nothing compared to what would happen when we reached the peak of our lives. At the age of 35, we finished the transformation. We were an unstoppable force. Cynder had found out and was careful about approaching it. With a slow attack, our empire in the making collapsed. Humiliated and horrified we fled. In the Chronicler's library, we studied the past and future carefully. With the hourglass in the center, it had to have been put there for a purpose. We studied even harder, hiding from Cynder as she frequently came by and disposing of all books that mentioned our being there. Soon we discovered that the sand slowly recorded every moment in time, dumping the sand over a thousand years old in the ocean down below. In order for us to stop Cynder from defeating us, I had to make you evolve at earlier stages. Unfortunately, the same effect happened on Cynder, but you are evolving faster. Son she will fall and we will rise above as one." The older Spyro said with a fiendish smile.
The younger Spyro was so shocked, all he could say was "I'm sure Cynder is on her way to find me, or the other elders. I'm sure it'll be an easy victory for us." He let out his own devious smile.