When Spyro awoke, something was very wrong. Instead of feeling the grass he fell asleep on, there was a cold, flat surface. He opened his eyes and stood up, looking about frantically.

At times like this it didn't take Spyro a while to wake up, but normally he woke up very slowly.

He recognized where he was, but he couldn't put his finger on it. He was on a floating platform that was hovering in the middle of a black void. The only thing set out of place was a single green crystal, directly in the center of the platform.

With nothing else to do, he went up to the crystal and put a paw on it. But instead of his body sapping the crystal's energy, it broke apart and hovered around his head. He knew this from before; it was just like in the Catacombs.

He jumped a bit when a voice came before him. "You've come far from the center of the earth, young dragon," the voice said.

Spyro instantly recognized the voice. He looked up from the crystal, to see Ignitus on the far side of the platform. "Ignitus!" he cried in excitement, performing a jump over the crystal. He stopped halfway in between.

Ignitus looked different than before, he almost looked like…"Ignitus, are you―?" He stopped himself.

"Yes, I am the new chronicler," Ignitus said. Spyro wanted to ask a wave of questions, but he was caught up in Ignitus' new look. Instead of his firey red color, he was now a mixture of steel blue and white. He had on a huge necklace with all sorts of things on it, but what mostly caught his eye was a trinket that resembled a small lantern directly in the front. Of all of his changes, the one thing that looked the same was his eyes, which seemed to peer directly into his soul. (And being the chronicler, he probably could.)

"Spyro, I understand you have hundreds of questions, but those are for another time. Now, I need you to give something to Nine." A small necklace materialized in front of Spyro's head, but it soon fell and landed on his nose. Spyro went cross-eyed for a moment to look at it.

"What is it?" Spyro asked.

"Just deliver it to Nine, he'll know what it is."

"Ignitus, I need you to answer one question," Spyro said slowly.

"What would that be, young one?" he said.

Spyro sighed. "Is…is Cynder okay?"

"Ah, I had a feeling you would ask that," Ignitus chuckled. Spyro didn't realize how that was funny. "Unfortunately, I cannot answer that. All I can say is that you, Cynder, and Nine all have to work together to overcome them." He started to disappear.

"Ignitus, wait!" Spyro shouted out, but it didn't stop him. Ignitus soon vanished.

"Someone new will also join your travels, but I cannot reveal who just yet." He disappeared with the last two words he said.

Spyro!He heard another voice coming from the abyss. Spyro, wake up!He knew it was Cynder, but the problem was that he didn't know how to escape. He soon found the answer.

The world around him began to fade, melting into the blackness surrounding the platform. Soon he was completely ensnared in darkness. Seconds later, he began to feel a rush, the real world coming back to him.

Spyro awoke with a sudden jolt, his mind rushing to recollect his thoughts. He got up almost instantly, shooting open his eyes.

Before he had time to think, Cynder was hugging his neck with her forelegs. "Oh Spyro, we thought were dead!" she said, squeezing him tighter. Cynder's sudden move surprised him, and all he could think to do was wrap his wings around her.

"Cynder…you're…too tight," Spyro said, Cynder choking him. She loosened her grip, but didn't let go. Spyro took a deep breath as soon as possible. "Why did you think I was dead?" he asked.

"You were asleep for three days," Nine jumped in. As Nine said those words, Spyro remembered the necklace, which was now on the spade of his tail.

"Spyro," Cynder said. "What happened?"

Spyro thought of what to say for a moment, and then began. "Ignitus is the new chronicler. He wanted me to give Nine this." Spyro tossed the necklace over to Nine with his tail, and then continued. "I wanted to ask millions of questions, but I only got one out." He broke Cynder's embrace and looked into her eyes. "I asked if you were okay…you know, with the nightmares." Spyro could see a mixture of hope and love in her eyes.

"And?" she asked.

"All he said was that we had to work together to overcome them," he sighed. "He also said that someone else will 'join us in our travels,' he didn't say who."

"Spyro," Nine jumped in a second time. "Do you know what this is?"

"No, Ignitus said you would know."

"Remember Seven, who I told you got all four elements and escaped?"

"Yes," Spyro said, curious.

"She gave this to me before we were captured by…" he stopped himself.

"Say it, I don't care," Cynder seethed.

"Ok, she gave this to me before we were captured by her men, but the scientists took it from me, and I saw them drop it into the volcano." He dropped it over his head with his tail, looking down at it. "It looks exactly the same."

A few minutes passed of total silence, the only sound that filled the air was the wind whipping around the branches of the trees. "So, should we leave for Warfang?" Spyro asked.

"Sure," Cynder responded. "Nine?"

Nine was still examining his necklace, but looked up when he was called. "Huh? Oh yeah, sure."

They all took off at almost the exact same time, flying in a V shape with Spyro at point. There was a much stronger headwind than any of them expected. "If we fly at this speed, we'll probably be at Warfang in two days," Spyro announced.

He noticed that the fog from, well, three days ago was still barely below the canopy, which could make it hard to find a spot to land. When he looked up from the fog, he could see a few of the taller building spires of Warfang on the horizon.

--

After they had been flying for over fourteen hours against the unwavering headwind, each of their wings was burning, screaming at them for a rest.

Spyro kept scanning the trees to find a clearing or something that could allow them to land. It wasn't until they hit the fifteen hour mark. He found a small circle of trees, which was the only clearing he found for miles. "There's a clearing down there, circle around and land," Spyro shouted over the wind.

They veered to the right a bit and passed it, then soon glided to the left.

When Spyro came close enough to the ground, he could see that the clearing was dotted with beautiful flowers over small fields of sparkling vines.

Something caught his eye in the center, like a ripple in water, but it wasn't water, that was clear. The parts that weren't covered in vines were grassy. Then something set off a red light in Spyro's head. A piece of wood was gently gliding over the clearing off to the side, slightly disturbing the grass around it.

"Don't land!" Spyro yelled out. "Don't land!" He wasn't sure if they understood why, but they obeyed. Spyro's feet cleared the grass, which wasn't grass at all, merely an illusion in water, by inches. Nine's tail barely pierced the surface, sending a small ripple spreading outwards. Both of them pulled out into a tight circle.

Cynder, however, wasn't so lucky. Almost half of her body got submerged in the water, and she would have gotten out if it wasn't so thick with vegetation. She quickly got entangled within the vines, instantly thrashing in the water in attempt to free herself. "Cynder, stop struggling, you're making it worse!" Nine shouted down to her.

"What am I supposed to do, drown?" Nine didn't respond, instead he looked at Spyro, who thought up a quick plan.

"Cut the vines," he said to Nine. He nodded and swooped down. Spyro made another circle before following him.

Nine flew in low right above Cynder, slashing the vines along her back with a stroke of his tail. Spyro then came in to pull her out, but soon realized he couldn't. The reason was that new vines were already cocooning her body, as if they had minds of their own.

"New plan, cut the vines under her," Spyro said to Nine. Nine didn't much understand how, but nodded. This time Spyro flew in first, bringing his arms around Cynder's body, and pulled up for all he was worth.

Nine then understood, gliding very close to Cynder, cutting the vines that were pulled out of the water. It took several flybys, but it worked.

Spyro quickly flew into the trees, his wings forced to fold in because of how close together the trees were. It didn't take long for his fatigue to catch up to him.

His wings burned as if on fire, soon giving way with the extra weight. Spyro and Cynder rolled on the ground, being stopped by a series of rocks and finally a tree.

Cynder was knocked out by the collision, the back of her head coming down hard on the rough surface of the tree.

Spyro thought back to the time he had first carried Cynder, flying out of the portal with her unconscious body. That was the last thought he had before slipping away into blackness.

Crap, I didn't hit the 30 second mark.