Chapter Five: A Gruesome Fate
Warning: This chapter contains a scene of graphic bloody violence.
(Two Hours Later)
As night progresses, Spyro and Cynder, with their surprise jewelry gracing around both their necks, were waltzing, on their hind legs, the landscapes of the dragon village together, paw in paw slightly at their sides as they walked with their tails entwined together, while conversing along the way.
Recently, they have informed the other elders, Terrador, Cyril, and Volteer being present after their brief absence, of their romantic night together outside and that they would return in a few hours.
But on their way, Hunter and Bianca has made their return after a romantic day with each other as well as Sparx, who recently have been spending a romantic time with a beautiful fairy by the name of Zoe.
Both dragons were glad upon their return, but at the moment, Spyro was on the subject of the name suggestions from yesterday and was in disbelief upon the suggestions provided by his black beauty.
"Cyndra and Cyndro? Please tell me you're kidding."
With her gaze droned forward, Cynder shook his head while the purple dragon's expression of disbelief was droned to her.
"No."
"And Ember came up with this?"
Cynder nodded.
"Yeah."
"And I'm to assume that she suggested these names because…"
"Half of you, half of me, yes." Cynder intervened with a nod.
With his gaze directed forward and his maw ajar, an incredulous breath exhaled from his maw while a snicker followed shortly after.
"Unbelievable…Whe-Where did they come up with these names?"
Cynder shook her head.
"I don't—" She halted and issued her suspicious gaze to Spyro upon his comment.
Upon anticipation of his mistake, the purple dragon nervously took note of Cynder's expression as the black dragoness, upon notice of the expression, issued a smile on her face.
"Wait a minute, who's 'they?'"
"I-I mean, 'She.'" His spoke while his eyes were shifting in discomfort, to which Cynder took note of.
"Yeah, no, I heard you say 'They.' W-Who's 'they?'"
With his nerves intact, Spyro shrugged his shoulders, his wings flickering in reaction to that.
"Nothing. It was just a slip of the tongue."
Cynder nodded unconvincingly upon the excuse.
"Yeah, at least now I know who else has gotten that problem. Now answer the question."
In silence, Spyro directed his gaze forward before speaking while the black dragoness kept her attention to him.
"Cynder, really, it's nothing."
"Spyro…?" She pressed.
"Yeah?" He responded timidly, his gaze returning to meet sapphire blue.
"Did somebody suggested a name to you for our child?"
Once again, the purple dragon grew in hesitant silence.
"…Maybe."
The look on Cynder's face grew unconvincing to Spyro's notice as he issued a sigh of defeat from his maw while his expression mirrored his actions.
"Okay, Flame suggested it to me."
With a nod, Cynder directed her attention forward.
"It figures. So what name did he suggested to you?"
"A bullshit name." He answered with his gaze directed forward.
"Oh, yeah? Elaborate."
Spyro grew hesitant for a while.
"…He wants me to name the kid, Spyder."
A dumbfounded expression masked the black dragoness' facial feature as well as a creased right brow towards the purple dragon upon the name.
"Spyder? Really?"
Upon notice of her expression, Spyro nodded.
"Yeah, it's…" He started to say before Cynder, by the gesture of her left paw, halted him from that attempt.
"Yeah, don't-don't tell me. Half you, half me, right?"
Spyro nodded.
"Oh, yeah."
The expression on Cynder's face mirrored Spyro's earlier facial expression as she directed her gaze forward while the purple dragon followed suit.
"Where did they come up with these names is right." Cynder muttered.
Spyro nodded in agreement as they resumed their walk while continuing their conversation along the way. However, both dragons failed to acknowledge that they were being observed from a far-off distance.
A seemingly lone silhouette, who was large in size, was positioned at the edge of a cliff. Its feature cloaked in the shadows regardless of the moonlight in the night, yet its hand was seen at its right side that tightly grasped an amulet with mysterious insignias on it.
With its attention droned forward, the unknown entity was observing the two dragons waltzing the soil of the forest with a growl of disdain escaping its maw upon the mere sight of them.
But its sight mostly settled on a certain purple dragon, which resulted in a snarl of immense hatred escaping the silhouette's maw followed by its right hand tightening around the object.
The object in question was shimmering slightly in dark coloration upon the entity's action, yet the mysterious silhouette paid it no heed.
After having a few laughs upon their conversation, more or less on the subject of Spyro and Sparx during the course of their adventures in his young years while mostly on the subject on Ignitus' experience on romance that was discussed short of two days ago, the purple dragon in question, along with Cynder, has reached their destination upon a wide clearing.
The moonlight bathed overhead on the soil as Spyro and Cynder halted at the spot in observance to this sight.
Then, a memory resurfaced into the black dragoness' mind, which provided a smile from her as Spyro noticed.
"You recognized this spot?"
"Yes." She spoke softly with a nod and, her smile intact, issued her loving gaze to her purple companion. "This is where we first made love. Our own little love nest."
"I prefer to think of it as our 'Mating Ground.'"
Cynder chuckled upon the name before she halted with her gaze diverted slightly from her purple lover's feature upon a thought that intruded in her mind.
Spyro noticed.
"What is it?"
Silence was the black dragoness' response at the moment before issuing her loving gaze back to Spyro.
"Nothing." She eventually answered before, to the purple dragon's notice, a competitive smile graced her facial feature. "It's just that I thought of another name to call this spot."
Slowly, discomfort framed the purple dragon's feature as he spoke.
"Is it the 'Sparing Ground'?" Spyro anticipated.
Briefly surprised, Cynder's smile loosened to a straight position upon the comment, yet she knew the cause of that.
"The competitive expression on my face?"
Spyro nodded.
"Yeah. And normally, I would say yes to this, but unfortunately…"
"I'm pregnant." She intervened with a disappointed nod before resuming. "Look, Spyro, I'm telling this to you just as I told Ember, I'm fine. This hatchling isn't due for a couple of months."
Mentally, Spyro figured that she had a point, yet he couldn't shake the discomfort in his being as Cynder noticed.
"Yes, but…"
"Ah." Cynder, to Spyro's notice, halted him from speaking by the gesture of her index finger to the purple dragon's face.
"But…"
"Ah!"
As the black dragoness lowered her index finger from his view, the purple dragon grimaced in slight annoyance upon her actions.
"Look, Cynder—" He started before being intervened.
"What's the matter?" She asked while slowly advancing towards him with the smile intact. "Afraid a pregnant dragoness can kick your ass?"
"No!" Spyro spoke in his instant defense while holding his ground upon note of the black dragoness' advances as Cynder halted just mere inches from him.
"You're not a coward, are you?"
"No!" Spyro spoke while laughter escaping his maw. "Look, I'm not fighting you, okay?"
"Why? You fought me before."
"Yeah, no, that's different."
"Sexy different or evil different?" She spoke in a seductive, yet playful evil manner.
Slightly caught off guard by the comment, Spyro nearly stammered on his words upon the question, yet he regained himself with a playful expression of defiance on his face towards her.
"Cynder, I will not fight you."
With the playful evil smile intact, she spoke.
"You will with a little help."
Spyro nearly grew clueless upon the comment, yet before he could utter a word out, Cynder braced her right paw to his golden chest and issued a harsh shove to his bodily form.
Slightly staggering backwards upon the action, Spyro regained himself and issued his surprise gaze to his beloved.
"Cyn, you did not just push me."
Cynder nodded.
"Yeah, I just did." She spoke before approaching him an inch further. "The question is: What are you going to do about it, stud?"
Then, she issued another shove to the purple dragon's chest, which in turn, staggered him back a few inches.
"Huh?"
As Spyro regained himself, both grew unaware of a menacing presence lurking within the bushes and trees from up far, watching the two lovers' every move.
The menacing entity issued a growl upon sight of them, yet it grew unheard by anything surrounding it.
Meanwhile, Spyro issued a chuckle from his maw upon his beloved's playful actions, and during that time, he spoke on the matter.
"Y-y-you-you're enjoying yourself, are you, sweetie?"
Cynder, after a quick train of thought, issued a nod with the smile intact.
"Yeah. I would say that this is an enjoyable situation on my part. Now, are you going to fight me or—"
"Or what?" He spoke, coolly while advancing, his tail swaying in reaction, towards her position until their snouts were affectionately caressing against each other. "Hmm? You gonna go dark on me?"
"No." She spoke, her tone mirroring her purple companion, yet seduction masked that tone, which issued the purple dragon in a slight trance. "You know what I'm gonna do?"
"What?"
"Close your eyes, lover." She spoke, seductively. "And no peeking this time."
Chuckling, Spyro complied by closing his eyes, but was unprepared for what happened seconds later.
His body quickly collided its way to the ground back first with his wings widespread as his surprised purple orbs droned to the seductive sapphire orbs of the black beauty on top of him with her forepaws positioned on his proud chest, her wings flapping slightly at the back, her tail swaying playfully, and her hind legs positioned on opposite sides of his hind legs.
Then, he saw her smile. Not the menacing smile of her former self from the past, but the seductive loving smile of a black beauty. It melted the purple dragon away to see such smile grace her feature once again after everything that the past has done to her.
Regardless, he issued a smile to his face upon such playful acts.
"By the ancestors, you did not just pounce on me."
"Oh, yes, I just did, lover."
With the smile intact, Cynder lowered her head to his level and slowly, with her eyes narrowed close, caressed the purple dragon's snout with her tongue, moaning sensually in the process upon the taste of purple scales, with such lust and affection that she could almost feel Spyro's sex organs issuing its release, yet she remain heedless to it and resumed the activity.
As Cynder resumed her luscious treatment of foreplay onto her purple lover's facial feature, Spyro shivered throughout the treatment with an affectionate growl emanating from his maw while at the same time, nearly losing himself to this sensual moment and keeping his erection under control.
"My God, you're evil." He managed to speak throughout the treatment after a series of passionate moans emanated from him.
Cynder heard him, yet showed less offense to that since it was a playful gesture from him as she resumed from his face down to his neck.
"Am I?" She spoke, cooed.
"Yeah, pouncing on me like that."
"Mmm, what are you going to do about it, lover?"
Then, her answer came in the form of a quick reverse maneuver as the black dragoness issued a surprising yelp before she found herself in the same position that Spyro was in a second ago while the purple dragon made his position on top of her with his grasps on each side of her abdomen, momentarily releasing his grasps to rest on the earthly soil.
"There's your answer, sweetie." He spoke with a smile gracing his feature while Cynder, despite her panting breath, issued a chuckle from her maw.
"I guess, uh…I guess I let my guard down, huh?"
Spyro shook his head.
"Nope. We both did."
"Really?"
"Mm-hmm."
Then, Spyro lowered down to her level and issued the same luscious tongue treatment to Cynder as she did with him while both their tails were affectionately entwined together and his muzzle caressing against her scales in the process.
Cynder's moans and growls grew of affection upon her purple companion's sensual actions before momentarily returning the favor by massaging her muzzle onto his and coming into lip-lock with him.
Then, the romantic scenery was halted as a soft rustling sound has issued from the bushes, which caught Cynder's earful attention while Spyro took notice with concern.
"What is it?"
"Did you hear that?" She asked with a pondering expression directed to her surroundings.
"Hear what?"
"I don't know. It sounded like rustling in the bushes." She said, before coming to a sudden thought as her worried gaze directed to her beloved. "Does anybody else know that we're here?"
"Aside from the guardians and the others, no." Spyro spoke, yet he managed to see the discomfort in her eyes. "Look, it's probably nothing but the howling wind. I mean, it is the middle of the night, right?"
Cynder grew uncertain at this point, yet she diminished her anxiety with a slight smile on her face before nodding.
"Yeah, maybe you're right."
Spyro smiled.
"Of course I am. Now, shall we continue?" He asked while the black dragoness issued a soft chuckle from her maw.
The purple dragon's response came in the form of a passionate kiss as the romance resumed while the moon's light bathed over the two destined lovers.
Then, after nearly two to four minutes, almost abruptly, Spyro lifted his head up upon a recent thought as Cynder took note of this with a hint of concern.
"What's wrong?"
"Oh!" He spoke before he hung his head and braced his left paw to his forehead before a chuckle escaped his maw. "You know, in all of the excitement that we were having, I completely forgot about why we were out here tonight."
Cynder nearly grew clueless upon his comment, until anticipation framed her feature.
"Oh, right, you mentioned back at the temple that you have a secondary surprise for me, yeah?"
With a smile, Spyro nodded before attempting to remove himself from the top of his beloved, speaking while doing so.
"Wait until you see it. It'll be wonderful." He spoke as he waltzed, on all four, the path that they have entered from.
Piqued with interest, Cynder, to Spyro's notice, managed to position herself on all four and looked after him before speaking.
"Really? Can I come with?"
With the smile intact, Spyro, after halting his stop, shook his head before diverting his head halfway to gaze with her.
"No, No, because if you came and took a peek, it wouldn't be a surprise, now, would it?"
Cynder nodded in comprehension to his comment.
"Ah, good point. Okay, hurry back. I can hardly wait to see it."
Spyro started to turn to leave when Cynder called him back again, which halted his stop before he came to gaze with her.
"Yeah?"
"I wasn't going to tell you this until later, but I managed a perfect name for our child."
Spyro creased an eyebrow with a hint of interest.
"Really?"
Cynder nodded.
"Mm-hmm. If it's a boy, we should name him 'Amethyst.'"
Spyro diverted his gaze to the side in thought on this name.
"Amethyst meaning 'Purple.'" He spoke before nodding and directing his approving gaze to Cynder with a smile gracing his face. "Me likey."
Cynder smiled in response.
"And if it's a girl?" He asked.
The black dragoness grew in silence thought on a name, but grew clueless at this point in time.
Upon that note, she shook her head.
"I…I don't know. I, uh…I didn't get that far ahead. Sorry."
Spyro shook his head.
"Don't worry about it. Eventually, you'll come up with something that's less of a hybrid." Spyro jested.
Cynder snickered.
"Ooooh, prophecy dragon got jokes now, huh?"
Since he was positioned on all four, Spyro fluttered his wings as an indication of shrugging his shoulders.
"I try."
Cynder nodded.
"Yeah. Try getting my gift, will you? I'll be waiting."
With a snicker escaping his maw, Spyro, with his head diverted forward, took off down the path leaving Cynder, who sat on her haunches, in the clearing of the moonlight to await her most precious surprise.
However, she became completely unaware of a lurking presence watching her at the moment.
Spyro, on all four, managed a couple of mile run as his talons and hind feet plowed the dirt path before immediately slowing his pace towards his destination near a batch of bushes.
During his travel, he made a mental note to himself to never hide any of his surprises in a far-off distance. He didn't want to stray away from his beloved too long.
He made his approach towards the bushes before standing on his two hind legs. Afterwards, he kneeled and searched throughout the greenish vegetation. Eventually, he came in contact with his findings: a set of small, elegant, beautiful pinkish roses positioned in a shape, which resembles that of a necklace.
With both his paws positioned softly underneath the set of roses, Spyro, with his eyes closed, lowered his snout to its level and took a gentle sniff of the elegant roses. The aroma itself became gentle, enchanting, and somewhat intoxicating. It was the perfect gift.
Eventually, he opened his eyes with the smile intact on his feature.
"Wow. I can't wait until she smells these beautiful things." He muttered softly.
Meanwhile, at approximately the same time frame, Cynder, who was laid comfortably on the clearing under the moonlight, was patiently awaiting the return of her purple lover as well as her surprise gift that he has planned.
Throughout the wait, she was in thought on what the gift could possibly be at the moment. Could it be something more delicate than the necklace that graced around her neck? She didn't know. But she hopes to find out as she resumed her wait.
Suddenly, a rustling sound—The same one from before--from a mid distance has caught her sharp attention.
"Spyro?" She assumed.
It was a possibility since she has known the purple dragon for his playful attic in his attempt to frighten her, yet she wasn't sure at this point as silence greeted her response before the rustling resumed.
Greatly alarmed, she slowly got up onto her hind legs and surveyed her surroundings.
Nothing. Nothing was present around her at this point, yet the rustling resumed its ominous sound in the area of the darkened night.
Then, she instantly caught sight of a shadow swiftly moving passed the bushes in the mid distance. And judging from the outline, it wasn't the silhouette of a dragon at all.
"Who's there?" She asked.
Yet, she was greeted with silence once more before, suddenly, the ominous sound of the rustling bushes has halted.
But Cynder kept her defensive position. She didn't know who were behind those bushes, but it wasn't her beloved.
And upon that fact, she decided to cautiously approach the area to find out for herself.
However, she only managed two steps forward before, out of nowhere, a metallic chain, held by a large silhouette, was wrapped around her neck from behind, which resulted in her head arching backwards.
With her eyes tightly shut and gritting her fangs to avoid a choking fit, the black dragoness, while struggling, grasped both her paws onto the chain that constricted tightly around her throat.
Slightly staggering backwards upon the mysterious silhouette's actions, Cynder struggled to remove the chain from her throat. But it proves difficult since it constricted her neck.
Upon that fact, she issued a left elbow to the left rib of the silhouette followed by a secondary one.
Both attacks issued a painful grunt from the silhouette, which resulted in the chain loosening its grip.
Upon that sensation, Cynder managed to quickly remove her head from underneath the chain and, with both grasps on the chain and with great strength, threw the silhouette onto the ground on its back before, with her left hind foot, stomped on his head simultaneously issuing a snap to its neck.
The action alone granted the heavily breathing black dragoness the privilege of gazing into the face of her motionless attacker with a startling expression framing her sapphire eyes.
The attacker was an ape; a large armored clad ape at that. Mentally, the black dragoness figured it was impossible. Their leader Gaul was dead. How are the apes still parading around their village?
Suddenly, to her puzzling startle, the motionless ape disintegrated into a cloud of black mist and before Cynder could come into mental question on that incident, a vicious growl has slowly caught her attention.
Her expression grew alarming upon the sight of, not one, not two, but four large armor clad apes, with swords in hands, positioned right near the bushes in the mid distance from her position.
Thoughts intruded on the black dragoness' mind at the moment. What were these apes doing here? Why were they here? How could they have caught her off-guard like that so easily?
Those were the valid questions to mind; yet she grew careless in providing that answer right away. It was four against one, which was an unfair advantage.
To that knowledge, she thought about calling out to her beloved, but he went off to retrieve her gift from a somewhat far distance. He was beyond earshot.
Then, she came upon another solution before she noticed the large apes ominously advancing towards her position.
But before any reaction was made, she, out of instinct, crouched from a quick downward sword attack that came from an armored ape positioned behind her.
As the sword missed its mark and collided with the ground, Cynder managed to quickly position herself behind the unsuspecting ape, issued a kick to its left leg, getting the ape down to her length in kneeling position and, with her left arm around its throat, crushed its larynx upon strong constriction.
As she violently threw the deceased ape to the ground where its blood spewed from its mouth to the soil upon contact and its cadaver disintegrating into black mist, she diverted her attention back to the other four apes that are constantly issuing their ominous advancement towards her a mere distance away with hungrily expressions on each of their facial features.
With an instant growl from her maw, a defensive posture, and a glaring expression on her face, she opened her maw. Out of her maw, came the reddish piercing shriek of her Siren Scream attack, which resulted in the apes' paralyzation by the sizzling red electricity of fear.
She halted her attack and switched to a new attack pattern of poison to finish them off. But before she could, she halted when she noticed the four apes disintegrating into the same black mist as before, which yet again placed her mind in wonder to these events.
Suddenly, a slight clicking sound has strayed her from her thoughts and issued her attention, but her reaction was late.
Then, out of the batch of bushes, came an object piercing against the night wind and approaching towards her at breaking speed before coming in contact with its target, followed by a painful grunt from the female dragoness.
Spyro sharply diverted his head towards the direction of the sound with a strong hint of anxiety present on his facial feature.
He recognized that piercing scream. It was the scream of his beloved. A cry for help.
"Cynder?" He spoke softly before quickly, with his grasp still to the necklace shaped set of roses, standing on his hind legs and sprinting towards the direction where the piercing sound originated.
Panting heavily, Cynder forcibly kneeled and grunted in pain, her expression cringing throughout the process, as blood gushed its way from her injured left hind legs towards the soil of the clearing ground.
The cause of the searing pain was a bronze javelin spear embedded into her leg.
With her right paw, Cynder attempted to pull the projectile free from her leg with her left paw while at the same time trying in vain to halt the flow of her life fluid with her right paw. During the attempt, blood stained her paws, yet she grew heedless to that and resumed with the procedure.
While doing so, she issued a straining grunt of pain before the projectile was released from her leg, which resulted in her blood splashing from the injury.
Placing the bloodstained spear on the soil of the ground, Cynder immediately, yet vainly with both paws, applied pressure to her injury, shuddering from the rising pain, yet cringed her teeth with endurance in the process before another clicking sound issued her attention.
Immediately, she noticed another spear zipping towards her from the right side and, since she was tending to her injured hind leg, used the barb blade of her tail to deflect it from her position towards the bushes.
Two more came from the front as the black dragoness, upon notice, once again with swift accuracy applied her barbed tail to the approaching projectiles, diverting them away in another direction of fire.
Then, another two came from the right side as Cynder yet again used her barbed tail to deflect them away from her.
Then, another clicking sound issued, but due to the distraction from the previous attacks including the rising pain in her injured leg, Cynder was unable to acknowledge it in time before a strong grunt of pain issued from her.
Breathing and gasping painfully, she looked down to find, to her horrific shock that another javelin spear, which was a silver color, was embedded into her ruby red belly where her precious hatchling was developing inside.
Then, she felt it. She could feel, not only the blood spewing from the injury, but also the life force of her developing hatchling fading upon the blunt of the attack, which caused her into a panic reaction.
"Oh, no." She managed to speak while her life fluid gushed its way from her bodily form. "No, my baby."
With her shivering paws, she grasped the spear in hopes to get it out before her hatchling becomes a blood-soaked distant memory. She can't lose her very first hatchling. Not now. Not on this blissful night.
Then, another ominous clicking sound has issued her frightful attention.
Panting heavily, Spyro leaped over a long wooden log as he resumed his pursuit towards his beloved's position. Fear and anxiety masked his feature as he raced.
'Oh, please, be okay, Cynder. Please!' His thoughts pleaded.
Suddenly, upon notice too late from the purple dragon, an armored ape charged against his bodily form from the right side, which resulted in Spyro, who was caught off-guard at the time, being thrown in mid-air and grunting in pain upon harsh collision with a nearby tree.
Unfortunately, the back of his head suffered more from the blunt of the impact than his body, which as a result, rendered him unconscious face-first to the ground soil while the necklace shaped boutique of pink roses was still in his left grasp.
The black dragoness known as Cynder was positioned on her back as her breathing and gasping were labored while her wings were widespread. Then, she felt blood rising from her throat, which resulted in her coughing the life substance from her maw like a rupturing volcano.
She tried to move herself as a means of escaping, but due to the excruciating pain, it became difficult.
Momentarily, she grunted from the rising pain as tears formed in her eyes. But she wasn't shedding tears from blood loss, nor was she shedding tears for herself. It was for her unborn hatchling that was recently developing in her ruby red belly.
She tried to save her unborn child, yet she was prevented from that chance by the spear embedded into her chest mere seconds ago. Now she was left with a feeling of emptiness in her being. Her unborn child was gone from this world before it was given a chance to even see it.
She tried to remove the spear from her chest, but due to that attempt, the pain increased to the point of her issuing a scream of sheer pain before she halted while breathing heavily, yet painfully.
It was then that she knew the shocking reason why. She could feel it. Her heart fading slowly down to a faint pulse, which means the spear was embedded into her vital area. And upon that came an even more startling truth: She was going to die…slowly. If any attempt were to remove the spear, it would be her end. There was nothing to be done.
"Spyro…" She managed to call out to her lover with a pained soft tone from her maw while trying her best to remain conscious with her eyes open.
Then, a large growling silhouette has caught her attention.
Approaching ominously from the bushes, the silhouette made its way towards the injured black dragoness' position while Cynder kept her intimidation in control simultaneously breathing painfully.
As soon as the silhouette has made its way to her, it reached down and grasped the bloodstained spear from the ground that the black dragoness discarded earlier. Then, it grasped the bloodstained silver spear that was embedded in Cynder's ruby red belly.
Swiftly, the spear was removed from the injury while a grunt of pain issued from the black dragoness upon removal.
But despite the pain, she kept herself conscious before glaring at the mysterious silhouette held responsible for the death of her unborn child.
"Wh... Who are you?" She asked while shivering from the immense pain.
Then, as an answer to her question, she saw its face, which issued a horrified look from the black dragoness.
"No." She softly whimpered. "It can't be."
Spyro issued a slight gasp from his maw while his eyes fluttered open as he awoke before groaning from the pain in his head.
Lifting his head, his first line of sight instantly came to the necklace shaped boutique of roses in his grasp.
Then, his thoughts dwelled to Cynder, his beloved, which slowly issued his expression to strong anxiety.
"Cynder." He softly spoke.
Wasting little time, he quickly got to his feet and made haste across the path to the clearing.
Leaping over another log in his path, Spyro resumed his sprint towards the clearing area where his beloved is positioned.
Mentally, he thought about flying over towards her position for a quicker pace, but judging by the night wind current, it was likely to slow him down at this point, which left him no choice but to advance on foot.
He kept his pace until he skidded to a halt with an expression of horror in his eyes and a gasping breath escaping his maw upon the sight that he was seeing. It was a sight that ran his blood cold. A sight that got him to subconsciously relinquish his hold on the necklace shape set of rose, while the soft sets of roses dramatically collided with the earth soil. A sight that brought overflowing tears to his eyes.
As his maw hung ajar in horror, he saw the bloody cadaver of his mortally wounded beloved, who was clinging to what's left of life, on the ground positioned on her back with her wings widespread.
Then, he noticed the injury on her left hind legs. But his horrifying expression increased upon sight of the other two injuries: The one from her ruby red belly that hold the developing hatchling, and the one pulsating from her chest with the killing projectile intact.
"Oh, no." He spoke, his voice shivering in fright.
Instantly, he rushed towards her position. As soon as he got there, he kneeled and cradled the back of her head with one right arm and his left paw caressing her left cheek while the rest of her midsection was supported by his knees.
Her blood constantly staining his paws and his knees but paid it no heed. His beloved was all that mattered.
He looked to her with fear and anxiety in his eyes as well as tears while Cynder's sapphire eyes grew fixated on her purple lover.
Breathing heavily, Spyro took notice.
"Cynder?"
"Sp-Spyro." Her soft voice cracked, yet labored while the tears overflowed her eyes. "I…I-I can't feel it anymore. I can't f-feel our baby anymore."
Spyro knew whom she was referring to, which reduced him to guilty tears upon that devastating fact. They have lost their unborn child. A child that he was going to bring into this world to raise as his very own with his beloved by his side.
"Oh, Cynder, I'm so sorry. I should never have left you. I…I should never have—"
"Sp-Spyro, stop. It is not your fault, lover." She spoke, then, with a grunt of pain, slowly braced her left shivering paw to the purple dragon's right cheek. "It is—It is never your fault."
Spyro grew comfort by the touch, yet it didn't diminish the panic and fear in his eyes.
Then, to Spyro's startle, blood ruptured from her mouth, which instantly started staining the pendant of the necklace over her neck, as she issued another violent cough from the rising pain while her attention was diverted to the night skies and her paw was relinquished from the purple dragon's cheek down to his knee.
Spyro looked and noticed the cause of her pain and suffering: A medium sized silver spear impaled into her chest.
Breathing heavily and swallowing saliva, Spyro looked to his beloved, desperation etched on his feature. He thought about asking who was responsible, but decided against it. Helping Cynder was all that mattered now.
"Don't worry, Cynder, I'm going to save you. You hear me? I-I'm-I'm gonna save you."
He was going to remove the spear from the chest when Cynder, with little strength she had left, halted him from that attempt to the purple dragon's horrifying notice.
With her gaze intact to the skies, Cynder slightly shook her head.
"Don't." Her soft voice spoke.
"Cynder, please, I want to save you. Why are you stopping me? Wh-why won't you let me save you?"
"Because…" She started before issuing yet another grunt of pain from the injuries. "B-Because it's not going to matter either way. T-The spear is lodged into my slow beating heart. Removing it will kill me instantly."
Devastation and horror masked the purple dragon's feature. She was right. The heart is vital to the body. Once it was compromised, the body becomes a motionless corpse.
He could feel her body shivering from under him from the intense coldness surrounding her while the blood constantly gushed from her injuries. Then, to Spyro's horrifying notice, he could see that her sapphire eyes were losing its life energy.
"Cynder? Cynder…please don't go…please." He pleaded, and then resumed with a hint of desperation in his tone. "Y-You stay with me, you understand me? Stay with me!"
The black dragoness could almost feel her life force slipping away as the excruciating pain grew constant, which reduced her to flowing tears. But despite the pain, she managed to slowly cast her teary eyes to the one she loves: The purple dragon of prophecy. The one who has freed her from the clutches of the dark master known as Malefor, the one who has gave her such love and affection, and the one who has given her a child to bare.
With a soft, yet weakened smile issued on her face, Cynder spoke while Spyro was reduced to tears upon her state.
"Spyro…" Her voice shivered as she once again slowly placed her shaking left paw to his right cheek before caressing it softly.
Spyro grew comforted by the touch, yet he remained panicked with fear.
"S-Say the words t-to me." Her voice softened, yet pained. "F-from my pendant."
Regardless of his state, Spyro decided to grant her request as he swallowed saliva down his throat and spoke the words that was issued to her from the pendant, his tone shivering in the process.
" 'T-To my one true love. Y-You are my heart to beat; y..." He halted as sobbing tears overwhelmed him upon the sight of her before he sniffed up his tears and resumed. "Y-You are my soul to keep. Y-You are my bright sun; You are-You are my everlasting moon. You are my love.'"
Closing his eyes tightly, the tears flowed before opening his eyes to his beloved's beautiful voice.
"'T-To my one true love. You are…" A grunt of pain issued from her before she resumed, her voice shivering upon the constant pain. "…you are my salvation from the pit of darkness; y-you are my angel of light from the h-heavens. You are my love.'"
Spyro's face cringed with grieving tears upon the gruesome sight of her, yet issued a slight smile upon her words spoken to him from his pendant as she resumed to speak.
"Spyro…Y-You are the best thing t-that ever happened to me. And I…And I w-will never forget you."
Her breathing labored as Spyro noticed; his strong expression of anxiety returning.
"Cynder…" He started before she resumed with her eyes nearly narrowed to a close.
"I love you." Her soft voice spoke.
"No, please." He pleaded, but his words were heedless.
Then, as time virtually slows dramatically, her left paw fell from his face and her eyes issued a permanent close.
Spyro's eyes widened in horror upon the sight of his mate's motionless body.
"No. Cynder?" He called to her softly.
No response.
"Cynder?!" He tried once again while desperately shaking to wake up to no avail.
Then, he was hit with a devastating truth: Cynder was dead. His black beauty was gone. The mother of his child has faded away along with his unborn hatchling.
And upon that devastating truth, he slowly lowered his head and shut his eyes tightly to freely relinquish his flowing tears.
His breath shivered as he exhaled. Then, he inhaled while grinding his teeth to keep himself from screaming.
But it was a vain attempt.
"CYNDER!!!!!!!!!!!" His voice bellowed in anguish to the heavens, which as a result, caused birds in the night to take flight from the nearby trees.
On the edge of the cliff, the silhouette took sight of this tragic display with a growl of content issuing from its maw. Its work here was done…for the time being.
As the amulet glowed in dark coloration, the silhouette departed in a cloud of black mist, leaving the scenery of the moon's night.
Phew! It took me a while to get this edited, re-edited, and prepared, but it was worth it. And yes, regardless of the rating content provided for the story, I've decided to push the envelope a little. And so thus lies the tragedy of our beloved black dragoness, Cynder. But don't think that this is over by a long shot, because the next chapter will answer a simple question a little overdue. Keep on the lookout. Ciao!
Next Chap: In the aftermath of a horrific tragedy, the elder guardians mount a wide search of the ones held responsible only to come to a stunning conclusion.