Disclaimer: I don't own the Legend of Spyro. It belongs to… well, at this point, I'm not sure who.

Chapter 7

The Shape Stealer

Cynder glared daggers at the shape stealer. Her mimic smirked cockily.

"Finally, I get to meet the great Cynder," the creature chuckled in a voice exactly the same as hers. "Kind of scrawny, aren't you? I mean, even for a hatchling."

"You're one of the Dark Master's servants," Cynder stated. "I've heard of you. What do you want? Upfront attacks aren't your style."

"Well-informed, aren't you?" the fake Cynder said. She glanced over at Jirin, who was muttering a spell under his breath to melt the ice that currently immobilized him.

Seeing her adversary's attention shifted elsewhere, Cynder leapt forward and swung her tail, aiming the deadly blade at the end for her duplicate's neck. An identical tail shot up and blocked the blow.

Shocked by seeing her blow so easily deflected, Cynder was unprepared when the shape stealer leapt forward and slammed her head into Cynder's chest. She gasped and then swung her tail up again, once again the clone blocked with the skill of one intimately familiar with their body.

Cynder guessed the shape stealer had imitated other dragons before her and that accounted for her skill with her new form. She didn't have time for farther thoughts as she ducked a claw swipe.

Jirin's progress with the ice block was slow. His limbs were still frozen. Cynder considered trying to use her fire breath to melt the ice, but thought better of it. The Dark Master could very easily force her to use too much power and burn Jirin to a crisp.

The fake Cynder charged and slammed into the black dragoness, knocking her to the ground and pinning her there. She tried to bit Cynder's head, but Cynder moved her head to the side in time and then opened her mouth and released a jet of flames.

The shape stealer screeched loudly, the sound eerie and piercing. She leapt back, beating her wings to get away from the fire. Her flesh melted and dropped to the ground as a large black blob, which quickly reshaped itself into the form of a giant black snake again.

Cynder leapt back as the snake's head snapped down on the spot she had been standing in. She launched another blast of flame, before it pulled its head away. Flames covered the snake's head for a moment, before the flesh melted into the shape stealer's liquid-like substance and extinguished the fire. Cynder took advantage of the distraction this created and leapt forward, setting fire to the lower half of the fake serpent. She didn't stop there; she stepped forward, keeping up a steady stream of flame, the snake melting back into its true form in an attempt to douse the blaze.

The creature resumed its eerie screech, the liquid thrashing and pulling itself away, even as Cynder advanced upon it, spraying it with flames.

Opening her mouth, Cynder gathered her energy for the final blow. She hesitated, her mind conjuring up imagines of city's burning in place of the withering pile of smoking slime.

She could hear herself roar as she flew over the burning city, watching as the people of the city fled before her army. She paused as she spotted two fauns, trapped within a ring of fire.

The large black dragoness landed and eyed the two fauns. Both of their fur was red, the fur of the larger one had a few gray hairs, the younger faun she guessed to be a teenager. Cynder roared and leapt forward, mouth open.

The older faun shouted and shoved her companion out of harm's way.

Cynder gasped, snapping out of the memory. She stared down at the withering shadow and then stepped away, retreating back towards Jirin.

The shape stealer sat motionless for a moment and then pulled itself together, retaking Cynder's form; she turned and opened her wings flying into the sky. Her wing beats irregular and her form bouncing and swerving in the air.

Cynder gasped for air, her whole body trembling. Jirin ceased his spell casting for a moment to watch her. His eyes full of concern.

"I-, I-," Cynder gasped. She hunched over and vomited.

"What is it?" Jirin asked. Cynder was surprised by how calm he sounded.

Cynder sat down, letting her wings droop and hung her head. She shook her head slowly. "I'm a monster."

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Spyro and Pyris had finished their meal with all possible speed and then Spyro led them in the direction the dreadwing had flown. They flew, slowly and carefully, beneath the treetops, worried soaring in the open sky might attract unwanted attention. Both were silent as they flew and Spyro almost missed the chatter that Sparx had always supplied.

The purple dragon turned his thoughts away from the dragonfly. He instead thought of Cynder wandering what were she was and worrying something might have happened to her.

The dragons flew all through the night, finally stopping when Spyro began to feel tired. He asked Pyris if she would like to rest and she nodded sleepily in reply. The two found a large tree and huddled down for the night in the massive roots of the great plant.

Spyro's dreams were mercifully free of nightmares. He slept for a few hours when a rustling in the bushes awoke him. He looked up as the sound continued.

"Pyris…" Spyro glanced over to find that she was already awake and staring out into the forest.

"Let's go," Pyris said, standing up and creeping toward the source of the noise.

Spyro hesitated for a moment, before he stood and followed, stepping lightly to avoid making a sound.

The rustling noise stopped, the two continued on. As they got closer to the noise, Spyro realized that perhaps they were walking into a trap. The thought gave him pause and he lost sight of Pyris behind a curtain of tall grass.

Pyris gasped loudly. "Spyro! Come here!"

Spyro leapt forward, coming into a clearing and gasping himself as he saw Pyris kneeling over a still black form.

"Cynder!"

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Author's Note: Bum bum bum!