Spyro was the first to wake up, his sleep disturbed by a slight rumble from the volcano. He slowly opened his eyes and raised his head. The green crystal was the only source of light in the dank cave, but even that was losing its glow.

By the light of the crystal, he saw Cynder curled up in the corner, almost completely concealed in shadows. Spyro didn't want to wake her, so he went to the crystal and absorbed a small chunk, dimming it even further.

The crystal wouldn't last long, so Spyro hatched a plan and started ripping off dead vegetation from the wall, piling it in the middle of the cave. Once he had a decent pile, he shot a small stream of flame at it, turning it into a small campfire.

At the time Spyro ejected the fire from his mouth, Cynder awoke, her breathing coming in short and fast bursts. "Morning, Cynder," Spyro said.

Cynder jetted her head towards Spyro, a wide-eyed expression on her face. Spyro gave her a questioning look, and in return she backed against the wall. "Cynder, what's wrong?" Spyro had a hint of panic in his voice.

Cynder looked around the cave one more time before answering. "Spyro, it was a nightmare and," she hesitated. "Nothing…it was nothing." Her eyes began welling up with tears.

"C'mere," Spyro extended his wings. Cynder ran to him faster than expected, catching Spyro by surprise, but he quickly adjusted and held her tight. "Now tell me about that nightmare."

She broke away from Spyro. "No, it'll just scare you."

"Try me," he laid down in front of the fire, followed by Cynder.

"Well, you and I were walking in the desert, and you swiped at me with your tail. I assumed it was an accident, but then you shot at me with fire. Then I knew it wasn't an accident, and I tried to fight back, but you were too strong. And when I was too tired to fight anymore, you carried me into the sky, and I was falling, falling, until…" She stopped herself.

"Cynder," Spyro gazed deep into her eyes. "You know I'd never do anything to hurt you."

"I know, but…" She was interrupted by a wave of sobs, tears spilling over her cheeks and falling on Spyro's shoulder. "It was so real..."

--

Cynder recovered from her nightmare over the course of the day, and even though she was positive she was passed it, she refused to sleep that night. "Come on, Cynder, we'll need to be well-rested for the flight to Warfang tomorrow."

"No…they'll come back," she said. Spyro understood her phobia, but he was still worried about her.

No matter how hard Spyro tried, he only got about an hour of sleep that night.

The next day, both of them were extremely tired, but they pressed on to Warfang anyway. But before they left, they needed a plan.

Spyro drew a horizontal picture of the volcano in the dirt and sat in front of it with Cynder. "If we're going to get over of the ring of fire, we need to plan it. There's an updraft near the volcano, we need to ride it as high as possible." He drew a line with his tail moving up the side of the volcano in the dirt.

"We'll keep that altitude; if we need to we'll go higher." He drew another line going straight across going above another thicker line, and then got up. "Ready?"

"Yeah, let's go." Cynder got up and walked to the entrance, starting to push the rock away. Spyro went to help.

Once the rock was out of the way, they walked outside and examined where to go, the hardened magma still warm under their feet. They saw the volcano, took off and headed towards it.

The flight was short; they stayed low and skimmed the ground due to the density of the air. Before ascending the volcano, they took a short five minute break to catch their breath. "You think we'll make it?" Cynder asked.

"We have to," Spyro replied. They took off, riding the draft to the top.

The flight up was uneventful, both of them coasting most of the way, but they didn't go directly over the volcano for fear of it erupting right on them.

The volcano took them to about 750 meters, under the ring of fire's height of at least 900. The poisonous gasses from the volcano mixed with the thin oxygen made it difficult to breathe, but they continued to climb.

Cynder started to feel dizzy at about 800 feet, but Spyro distracted her from it with stories he came up with from the top of his head. That seemed to calm her down, because she smiled with each new story.

Spyro looked down to evaluate their height, when something caught his eye. It was a small hint of scarlet, completely in the open with no obstructions around. He squinted his eyes in attempt to get a better focus, shockingly realizing what it was. It was another dragon, blue in color. The red he saw was blood, almost covering their entire body.

"Cynder, there's another dragon down there!" He shouted over the wind, which was getting stronger as they went on.

"Are you sure?" She looked down, scanning the rocks.

"Look, in the clearing." It wasn't hard for Cynder to find the dragon, since there was only one clearing for miles. She gave a shocked expression when she saw him.

Cynder looked at Spyro. "We have to help," she said.

Spyro stared down for a little longer. "You're right," he finally said. He folded in his wings, leaving a little slack for stability. Cynder followed close behind.

They descended in a fast downward spiral, eventually slowing for a landing.

Cynder had a beautiful touchdown, gently settling down on the ground with perfect poise. Spyro, however, pulled out of his dive too late, skidding on his stomach in the ashes.

He was sure Cynder would have laughed, but she was already examining the dragon. Spyro instantly rushed over to help. He didn't really know what to do, but Cynder apparently did.

She took a little time to clean a huge rip on his chest, but eventually gave up. "He's dying fast, it's lucky we got here when we did." She said with sadness in her voice.

"Will he live?" Spyro asked.

"He might, we need to apply pressure, and he's still bleeding. That's a good sign." Spyro wondered how Cynder got so skilled with the medical stuff, but he mostly wondered how bleeding is possibly a good sign. However, he didn't question it.

Cynder began harvesting leaves from the ground that blew in from somewhere or other. She went over to the dragon, pressing the leaves on his wound. "Spyro, help me hold these," he obeyed, balancing on his hind legs and applying slight pressure with the front.

Cynder was already running to the rocks, tearing off the greenest vines she could find, running back when she had enough. "Keep holding the leaves, Spyro." She began tying the vines around his body, making a crude, green bandage.

"Now what?" Spyro asked.

"All we can do is wait," she responded. Spyro looked helplessly at the blue dragon, who was now distinguishably blue now that most of the blood was cleaned off. "Spyro," Cynder sighed.

"Yeah, Cynder?" Spyro averted his gaze from the blue dragon to Cynder.

"Don't worry, he'll be okay." Spyro laid down where he was, fatigued from the failed flight over the ring of fire. He patted the ground next to him with his paw, a gesture for Cynder to come next to him. "Someone needs to watch our blue friend here," she said, making a gesture to the dragon.

"I'll do it, you need to sleep," Spyro said and got up. Cynder wanted to argue, but saw no point in it and lied down.

"By the way, Spyro," Cynder said as she closed her eyes. "Nice landing."

Both of them smiled, Cynder falling asleep within seconds of her comment. However, Spyro's smile was short-lived, vanishing off his face when his eyes fell upon the blue dragon. He sighed deeply.

Whoever you are,Spyro thought, please be okay.

Yeah, the first 9 are going to come pretty quick.