#5: The Bounty Hunter

Cynder groaned as her eyes flickered open, her body hurt all over. She gasped as sharp pains tore through her sides and back making it hard for her to even move. Cynder panted as the pain continued to shake her mind a bit. She had no doubt that at least one of the patrols had heard her fall. Sure enough, when she glanced up she saw four black and green dragons walking toward her with dark intent.

Cynder tried to get to her feet, but when she moved more pain shot through her back causing her to cry out in agony. One of the dragons licked his lips as they began to circle the rubble. When Cynder glanced at him she saw that the dragon was salivating as if he had been starved for weeks.

The shadow dragoness had seen the things that dark magic could do, she had even created some dark creatures herself. But Cynder had never seen dragons before. The male that had licked his lips chuckled as they stopped around Cynder's form and he grinned "ah… to devour or to torture to death. I truly can't choose!"

"D-devour?" Cynder frowned through the pain as she shrugged off some of the ruble and began to finally rise.

One of the other twisted dragons, a female cackled and nodded making a mocking snap at Cynder with her jaws "of course! Novak showed us the truth! Dragon flesh tastes the sweetest!"

Cynder blinked and shook her head, she started to will her magic to life. But even if Cynder could take out one or two of the corrupted dragons. Numbers would eventually get the better of Cynder and she would become a meal for these… creatures.

They were hardly even dragons anymore at this point, the dark magic had already taken them to far. But that wasn't the main thought of Cynder's mind. If these dragons cannibalized others then the hostages could very well be already dead. The male patrol dragon glanced at his companions and nodded, they began to close in on Cynder.

The shadow dragoness lifted her tail blade and prepared for a fight, the male lunged at Cynder with a wolf-like howl. She swiped him with the flat of her tail blade and caught the dragon off guard. Then she shifted and sank her claws into his neck and she ripped his throat out. But by then the truth of her danger had dawned on Cynder. The other three dragons swarmed her and Cynder gasped as she was knocked onto her back with her wings pinned down. All three of the remaining twisted dragons attempted to bite and claw at her. Cynder struggled and swiped her are at the only female in the group. With a sickening grin the female caught Cynder's arm and hissed a laugh.

This gave one of the others the opening he needed to sink his teeth into Cynder's softer belly scales causing Cynder to scream in agony. The other male soon followed suit and the two began to bury their muzzles into her belly. Then female laughed all the while as she pinned Cynder down, the two males beginning to feast on the shadow dragoness.

Fear began to wail up in Cynder's mind, fear of death as the two males ate a hole into Cynder's belly prompting more screams from her lips. Then without warning, Cynder's own dark magic reacted on the fear. A sudden burst of black and red energy erupted from Cynder's body and all three of her attackers were shot back away from Cynder at a sudden rate. One of the males flying back and smacking his back against the post of what used to hold up the structure of a building. He dropped down and didn't move, nor would he ever again.

The female was the first to rise to her feet, anger in her eyes "you… bitch! That was my brother!"

She lunged at Cynder while she was down, but just as it seemed her claws would rend Cynder's flesh a red orb attached to the female's chest out of nowhere and knocked her back a bit. Cynder glanced the orb through a haze of red fear. Then suddenly the orb exploded and the female burst into flames and smoke. When the smoke cleared there was only the skeleton of the female remaining.

The last of the four twisted dragons turned to run, but a shadow loomed over him. Another dragon suddenly dropped down on the male and pinned him down. Cynder saw that the dragon wore a cloak over his body and when she tried to get a look at his face he wore what looked to be the skull of a dragon over his own face.

The newcomer let out a sigh and spoke to the last remaining attacker "well damn, I had hoped that fire grenade would've taken you and your friend out. Guess I'll have to get dirty after all… This was a new cloak to."

The cannibalistic dragon attempted to snap at the newcomer who just grinned under his mask. Another red orb appeared in the palm of the dragon's right hand and with a grunt he crammed it down the dragon's throat and held him down "devour this instead…"

The twisted dragon twitched and squirmed as smoke began to leave his nostrils and mouth. Then the mystery dragon pulled away and threw himself over Cynder and the last of the twisted dragons exploded.

Cynder tried to shove the mystery dragon off of her but he placed a clawed finger to her lips and whispered "keep your tongue holstered, Terror of the Skies."

Cynder's eyes went wide at the nickname and the masked dragon slipped his hand under his cloak and pulled a green gem from it. He lowered himself down toward Cynder's wound and placed the gem into the bleeding hole in her belly.

She let out a muffled cry as she arched in pain, feeling her very scales begin to seal around the gem as it was absorbed into her body. For a long moment there was nothing but the pain, then finally it went away and the dragon stepped off of her and glanced at the now dead twisted dragons "did you do this to them?"

It was more a statement then a question, Cynder shook her head as she ran her thumb claw across where her wound had been. She then rolled onto her feet and frowned at him "who are you and-"

"Did you turn them into those monsters?"

"No… they were like that when I arrived. Black with pulsing green veins. Novak, the dragon I'm currently hunting. I believe he did it to them." Cynder answered as she touched the wound again and blinked.

"That was a hunger curse, I've seen it before." The mystery dragon said as he walked over to the male that had his throat ripped out. He touched the dragon and nodded, then looked back at Cynder "if you had created them, they wouldn't have attacked you anyway. Still, spells can backfire."

"I didn't create them so stop accusing me of it! What is with you people and blaming shadow dragons for all the-"

"Because they are to blame! For everything! For this world being the way it is! For the suffering that dragons must endure now! Everything!" The mystery dragon snapped back in rage, he then gripped his cloak and ripped off the section that covered his right arm. Cynder gasped in shock at what she saw. His entire arm from his shoulder down to his hand was made of metal. A perfect prosthetic arm that moved perfectly with the rest of his body. Likely due to a mix of magic and technology.

He showed Cynder his arm without hesitation and pointed at it "Eight years ago… Do you remember Gemcrafter's Village? Answer me damn it!"

"Yeah… Gaul forced me to kill everyone in it… Listen I wasn't in control-"

"But you enjoyed it didn't you, you enjoyed the power you had over the innocent. Choosing who lived and who died. Do you remember how your murdered my parents? How you tore my sister apart!?" The words struck Cynder harder then anything the corrupted dragons could have done.

Cynder wanted to crawl into a hole and hide herself away from the world forever. She wanted to plug her ears and lay in the silence of her misery. But she couldn't, here she thought that even after Spyro had died. That she could turn over a new leaf and start over, be a better person. Help those who needed to be helped. But once again her past had caught back up with her, once again the darkness within Cynder had come back to haunt her.

The masked dragon glared at her through his mask "speak!"

"What do you want me to say… That I'm sorry! That I feel as though my insides have been ripped out, moments after they nearly truly had been! I can't take back the things I did, and I will forever be haunted by them. But I am trying to be a better person!" Cynder snapped back at him in a mix of anger and sadness.

But the mystery dragon simply shook his head and turned away from her "I had been sent by the Dark Master to capture you alive… but your not even worth my time. Just a sad excuse for a murderer… I should have let those dragons feast upon your flesh…"

Each word struck Cynder hard, but she knew deep down that he was right… everything was indeed her fault...

Author's Note: Thanks again for reading. So What do you guys think of my OC? I wanted him to be a bit more scarred then the average Spyro character both in body and mind. Also I won't lie, I almost let the corrupted dragons have Cynder for dinner.