"Well, Spyro, do you like what I've done to her heart?" Malefor said, sweeping his paw across the ruined room.
"What do you want, Malefor?" Spyro asked, adopting a battle-ready stance, his body tensed in preparation for a fight. Malefor turned back towards Spyro, his eyes glowing unnaturally crimson.
"I want redemption, to return to the world, to bring it to a new age and I need a vessel for that, considering what you did to me 3 years ago." Malefor replied, his voice thick with menace.
"You see, I've figured out how to obtain the strongest breath of them all, far surpassing convexity, and I needed some help with that. Luckily, your children have "volunteered" for this." He turned towards the 4 dark crystals and Spyro followed his gaze.
"Unfortunately, Cynder is blocking full access to their elements with those glyphs she placed on them. That's where you come in." Malefor glanced at Spyro who was still appalled by what Malefor was doing to those young hearts.
"I need you to get Cynder to undo those glyphs for me, or else…" Malefor gestured towards Cynder and a large, black flame sprung up around her, trapping her within a vortex of darkness, the flames cutting painfully into Cynder's body.
"Don't listen to him!" Cynder gasped through the pain.
"Stop it, Malefor! I'll- I'll do as you say…"
Malefor grinned coldly and removed the flames, undoing the shackles holding Cynder down at the same time.
"Good. Now, if you try anything else, I'll destroy both of you, is that clear?" Spyro remained silent.
"I'll take your silence as consent." He picked Cynder up roughly and flung her towards Spyro. Spyro immediately rushed over to Cynder and nuzzled her gently.
"Are you alright?" Spyro asked silently.
"I've been worse…" Cynder replied, standing up unsteadily.
"I hope you know what you're doing…" Cynder whispered as they slowly walked towards the crystals, Malefor keeping a close eye on them.
"I hope so too." Spyro replied as they neared the crystals. Upon closer inspection, it was fairly clear that a multitude of glyphs had been placed over each flickering spirit. Also, each spirit looked distinctly like a small, young dragon sleeping peacefully within the crystals, unaware of the peril they were in. They looked so fragile and this strengthened Spyro's determination to protect them from Malefor.
Spyro suddenly felt a small, almost imperceptible burst of cold heat on his chest. He looked down and saw that the flames had reappeared, this time with only 7 remaining in the circle.
"What's that?" Cynder asked inquisitively.
"A timer. We're running out of time." Spyro replied as the flames gradually disappeared.
They looked back towards the crystals. Now that they were closer, Spyro saw that all of them had a faded look, the light shining weaker than they had been when he first saw them from Lazarus' heart.
"Malefor's been siphoning energy from them. The glyphs prevent him from siphoning off too much but they've already been weakened a lot. We have to help them, Spyro, they're our kids!" Cynder explained, fully aware of Malefor's cold gaze.
"And we will. Listen, Lazarus passed on an element to me. I'm not sure what it does but I think I have to use it on Malefor." Spyro said, glancing back at Malefor.
"And how are you going to do that? He's really powerful, if you haven't realized."
Without warning, Spyro spun around and instinctively spread his wings wide, steadying himself with his paws. He felt the light from around him gather at his wings, entering his body and filling it with warmth. Malefor saw this and immediately raised his paw, preparing to attack Spyro and Cynder.
However, he was too slow. Spyro let loose with an orb of light that split into a barrage of light spears that flew towards Malefor, leaving light trails behind them. Malefor saw this and took flight, causing the spears to sail beneath him harmlessly.
He laughed and prepared to smite the 2 defiant dragons when suddenly, a light spear struck him from behind. He roared in pain and turned to see the spears sailing towards him. He tried to evade but it was no use, the spears struck Malefor one after another in rapid succession, causing Malefor to plummet to the ground, roaring in rage. He struck the ground, throwing up a large cloud of dust and caused the entire room to shake.
Spyro stood back up, panting.
"I-Is he dead?" Spyro asked, his voice quavering out of shock at the power of Flare.
Cynder didn't reply, staring in awe at Spyro.
"I think so…" Cynder replied after a long time. Without warning, she hugged Spyro tightly, almost hysterical with joy. Spyro couldn't help but join in, hugging her back. But still, something felt wrong. If Malefor was truly gone, shouldn't the crystals and vines disappear, robbed of Malefor's dark influence?
Suddenly, Malefor darted out of the dust at a blinding pace, covering the massive distance across the room in the blink of an eye, his eyes literally burning with rage, each covered in a dark, crimson flame.
"Get away!" Spyro shouted, pushing Cynder away, barely managing to deflect Malefor's claw with his wings.
Malefor launched into a series of rapid claw slashes, all faster than the eye could comprehend. Spyro deflected the strikes before countering with his own fire. However, there was nothing there. Cynder ran up to Spyro, ready to fight.
"So he's not dead?"
"I don't understand… Lazarus said that this would help but, it didn't do anything." Spyro said, distraught. He looked down again, the flames reappearing. The 6th flame was growing weaker. They were running out of time.
In a burst of darkness, Malefor appeared behind them, his right arm taking the form of a large scythe as he brought it crashing down onto Spyro and Cynder. They dodged his attack nimbly and flew away from him.
"Whoa, he's fast…" Cynder said. Malefor suddenly blinked out of existence in a flash of darkness and reappeared in front of them, catching them off guard and striking them with his scythe-like right arm. They crashed onto the ground, both sustaining a massive gash across their chests. Malefor rematerialized in front of the crystals, spreading his wings wide.
"You shouldn't have done that, Spyro. This is my domain; I am like a god here. Now, you shall have the privilege of being the first to witness the birth of a new element, the true forms of convexity, Bifrost and Hellfire!" He began absorbing energy from the 4 hearts. Spyro and Cynder tried to stand up but the pain caused them to collapse back onto the ground, gritting their teeth in pain as they looked on helplessly.
Malefor turned around, his claws brimming with the energy taking the form of a light blue flame and a black-streaked, dark red flame. He swung the paw with the blue flame at Spyro and Cynder, causing a massive glacier to erupt from beneath them, throwing them up into the air. He then opened his mouth, now filled with that unnatural, dark flame and fired, sending a massive beam of fire towards Spyro and Cynder's bodies. It surrounded them, creating a massive cage of flames to form around them before detonating.
Spyro and Cynder plummeted towards the ground; both covered in wounds, their breathing heavy and labored. They hit the ground hard, both facing each other. They looked at each other and Spyro slowly stretched out his paw, his eyes filled with tears.
"You with me?" He whispered quietly. Cynder took his paw and nodded gently, tears forming two streams down her muzzle.
"Always…"
Malefor strode over to them, casting an ominous shadow over the two dragons as he prepared to destroy them.
Spyro and Cynder closed their eyes, savoring what could be their last moments together…