Disclaimer: I don't own the Legend of Spyro series. I just own several characters and most of the concepts for this fanfiction.
Chapter 6
First Move
"Have you seen Spyro anywhere?" Sparx asked.
Crystalis looked up from his meal, a small goat that he had found in the forest. He was eating it outside of the temple. "Not since last night…"
"How can someone so fat hide so well?" Sparx asked, glancing around.
The ice dragon shrugged in reply. He stared down at his meal, ripping off another piece of meat.
Sparx frowned. "Is there something that you aren't telling me?"
"Spyro left last night," Crystalis replied. "He went with Pyris to go find Cynder."
"What?!" Sparx exclaimed. "Why didn't he ask me to come with?"
Crystalis rolled his eyes. He wondered why the dragonfly was so upset. Spyro had said that Sparx had complained almost the whole way on all of their other adventures.
"Well, we'll see just how far he gets without me," Sparx huffed, crossing his arms and puffing up his chest.
"By the way, Spyro wanted me to tell you something," Crystalis said. "He said that you should 'grow up.'"
"I'm already plenty mature," Sparx said. "See you later. I'm going to go draw funny animals on the temple walls again."
--
"Did you find her?"
"Yes, my lord," the ape replied.
"Good," the Dark Master smirked. He glanced around the cavern. The massive chamber was lit by several torches that burned with green flames. Several walkways had been built from one side of the cave to the other, some connected to a massive wooden platform in the center.
The Dark Master and the ape were standing on the cave floor. The floor was covered in damp mud; several glowing mushrooms grew out of it. The Dark Master stepped forward, crushing one of the mushrooms under his foot. He stopped next to a large yellow orb. The orb was connected by several brown tendrils to the muddy floor. A shape could be made out inside of the orb, that of something half-way between dragon and ape.
"Sir, I think maybe we should stop these experiments," the ape said.
The specter turned his expression one of pure malice. His voice was calm and cold. "Why do you think that?"
"Rumors have been leaking to the armies," the graying ape replied. "They are all uneasy and are afraid that if this works, that they'll all be changed into t-those things."
"Are you saying that being a dragon would be a bad thing?" the Dark Master asked, turning away from him. The ape breathed a sigh of relief. "Having dragons on our side would be rather useful. I think Cynder has proven that."
"Yes, sir," the ape replied.
"But if you need farther proof, why don't you go find a pod?" the Dark Master chuckled. He snapped his fingers and two apes that had been standing off to the side rushed in and grabbed the first ape.
The Dark Master watched as the two dragged the ape away, the fool begging for his life.
He glanced around the cavern, almost all of the apes' fur had faded to grey, or white and several had patches of fur that had fallen out. Ever since he had found the cave, the Dark Master had wondered what kind of effect it would have upon a creature of flesh and blood. It was no wonder everyone avoided the area.
--
Once, Spyro and Pyris were a good distance away from the temple, they took to the air. Pyris had suggested that they look in the swamp first, since it was the closest uninhabited place.
"Well, uninhabited by dragons anyway," she had said.
They reached the edge of the swamp around midday and scanned it from the air, but the trees blocked everything from view. They turned back and landed on the swamp's border and split up to look for food.
Spyro wasn't having much luck. He was used to hunting grazing animals and there didn't appear to be any of them near the swamp. He came across several large insects, but he remembered when he had taken a bite out of a spidershroom and found that it tasted horrible.
He paused as he heard a familiar screech. He ducked behind a tree and glanced up to find a dreadwing circling above. He could just barely make out the shape of the ape sitting on its back.
A spy? Spyro wandered as the dreadwing turned and flew further into the swamp.
The purple dragon cautiously stepped out from behind the tree and then turned and headed back to camp. He wasn't too worried about his hunger anymore and they still had some food left. He was more concerned with telling Pyris about the dreadwing.
When he got back to the small clearing that served as their camp, he found Pyris was already back and had caught a large white bird of some kind.
"You didn't find anything?" Pyris asked.
"I found a dreadwing," Spyro replied. "One of the Dark Master's."
Pyris' eyes widened. "What's it doing this close to the temple? What do you think they're looking for?"
The two of them frowned, the same thought flashing through their minds.
"Let's eat quickly," Pyris said, pushing the bird forward. "Then we'll see if we can find that dreadwing."
--
The dreadwing's pilot frowned as he scanned the ground below. The pilot had smelled his second target a little ways back, but the Dark Master had said to acquire the first target, before proceeding to the next.
A change in wind direction brought a new scent to the pilot's noise and the dreadwing was soon angled in the direction of the scent.
--
Cynder sighed as she curled up on the ground, the heat of the campfire warming her side. Jirin was sitting across from her on a fallen log and using a large dagger to carve a piece of wood. Kadie was fluttering around the campsite, weary of some kind of predator sneaking up on them.
Feeling a shifting sensation inside her stomach, Cynder raised her head. She sighed, she had almost forgotten about the pieces of darkness still inside her.
"What's wrong?" Jirin asked.
"I just felt…" Cynder sighed and stared at the fire. "When should I try to get it out again?"
"You could try now," Jirin replied. He glanced over at Kadie and raised his voice. "We're safe here and you'll have the whole night to rest."
"Look out!" Kadie shouted.
Cynder glanced up, seeing a dreadwing diving at them. She leapt forward and pushed Jirin out of the way. Seconds later, a blast of sound slammed into the log and shattered it, sending splinters flying.
The dreadwing flapped its wings and regained its altitude, circling around for another dive. Cynder leapt back to her feet and then launched herself into the air. She swerved around a projectile that was thrown from the dreadwing's back and glanced down to see it hit Jirin, exploding into a block of ice and immobilizing the old llama.
She glanced back up to find the dreadwing diving at her. It slammed a wing into her and sent her careening through the air, to land roughly on the ground. She groaned as she bounced across the forest floor. Cynder moaned, dazed from the impact.
The dreadwing descended and its rider leapt off of it. The dark gray ape smirked and strode toward Cynder.
"Back off!" Kadie growled, flying in front of the primate. The creature raised its hand and swatted her away, Kadie landing on the ground, unconscious.
Cynder meanwhile was standing back up and growling angrily at the intruder.
The ape paused and then, right in front of Cynder began to fall apart. Its skin and clothes turned black and then lost shape entirely, until what had been a creature was nothing but a shapeless black blob. It didn't stay shapeless however. The blob stretched out, one end forming into a tail, while the other formed into an arrow-shaped head. The rest of it compressed together, until the blob looked like a huge snake. The snake's color shifted, red stripes appeared on its back, while its belly turned a pale white color. A small pair of horns appeared over the snake's yellow eyes.
Cynder leapt forward, but the snake swung its tail forward and swatted her out of midair. She slammed into a tree and slumped to the ground.
The snake slithered over, melting back into a black puddle, which pulled itself toward the black dragoness. The semi-liquid substance began to cover Cynder.
The black dragoness opened her eyes, just as the liquid finished covering her face. Cynder yelped in panic as she suddenly found herself blind. She stood up and stumbled a bit still dazed.
"Get off me," Cynder demanded, the sound muffled through the substance.
Strangely enough, the substance listened to her, flowing off of her. As soon as it was off of her completely, Cynder leapt back.
The liquid began forming into something else. It rose off the ground and formed a head, followed by a long neck, a set of wings, four legs, and finally a familiar looking tail. The shape shifter completed its transformation, turning black and red.
Cynder gasped as she found herself staring at a perfect copy of herself. The new Cynder mimicked the gasp mockingly.