FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 3

Without any second thoughts they entered the cave. It was pitch dark in it, the darkness covered every wall, every corner and more importantly the ground below them, they could grope but it wouldn't make any sense at all. Being able to breathe fire Spyro immediately knew what to do, a one strong flame would be enough to illuminate probably the whole cave. He tried to inhale deeply, but the effort only caused him to cough painfully.

He allowed the pain to fade away before taking a shallow breath, the moment he inhaled the air he focused a little to make a connection with his elemental energy dwelling inside and breathed little flames out of his mouth. If somebody could see it, they would never believe he was the purple dragon who defeated The Dark Master. The flames were pitiful but it was everything he could do without suffering. As weak as they were, they at least provided a little light, it was enough to see the ground below their paws.

They were both moving slowly and carefully, in their adventures they already stumbled upon caves that looked safe at first glance, but turned out to be deadly traps. Some of them had almost undetectable cracks on the ground.

Once they had found a troll in such a cave, its blows caused the ground to subside, creating a bottomless pit which dragged the creature down and both dragons would have shared its fate if not for their survival skills.

Others for example looked like they had really solid walls, but one misplaced earth missile was enough to cause a cave-in. Another caves had a really high placed ceilings and since they are usually dark it was impossible to see what was up there, they thought it was safe until a horde of orcs started smashing the walls around them with their clubs in a fury, only thanks to their instincts or luck they managed to jump away before they were skewered together with their enemies by the many stalactites that came rushing down from the darkness above.

This time however they didn't have the comfort of knowing what was around them. The slow pace was tedious for both of them, but they have been looking for a good spot to rest as far as possible from the entrance and the chilling breeze outside. Cynder was tired and was getting really annoyed by yet another obstacle that prevented her from resting and this sluggish tempo didn't help her to cheer up either, judging from the way he moved his tail he was pretty agitated also. Spyro was doing his best with his condition, he would probably push harder if she had urged him to do so, but Cynder never did, she felt guilty, he had suffered enough because of her. She remained silent the whole time since they were walking in this cave, until she accidently kicked something, it was enough to tip the scales.

"It is pointless" Cynder finally burst out "we will never find anything with this light"

"Sorry to disappoint you, but that is everything I can do without spitting my lungs out" Spyro replied irritably

"That's not what I meant" she sighed "Just wait here ok? I'll be right back" with that she turned around and made her way towards the exit

The moment she stepped out of the cave she scanned the ground around her looking for any twigs or cracked branches that would serve as a good tinder. Unfortunately she didn't see any near the cave, the wood was not the only thing that she looked for. Cynder also needed some rocks, and since they were in a spot between two slopes they were pretty abundant here. She dragged the nearby rocks with her paw towards the entrance eventually creating a small pile in front of the cave.

She took a sip from the pond before venturing into the woods. Like almost everything here the forest was located on a small rise, it was really dense and quiet. The bad weather already blocked every sun ray. but in there, below the many tree tops the darkness felt thicker. Cynder was no coward but she wouldn't dare to venture deep into it, maybe they defeated the evil that plagued the Realms, but that didn't mean that some stragglers couldn't be hiding in there.

Cynder decided to stay on the edge of the forest, maybe she was paranoid, but if her fears would have any truth to them in her shape she would have difficulties defeating a bunch of trained killers.

Safety comes first.

Clearing her mind from all these bad thoughts she began her search. She didn't have to look long, there were twigs and some quite big branches lying everywhere, but finding dry ones. at least a little, was a different story. She walked around for a bit, but after a while she gave up, the intense rain covered everything in its wet coat.

Cynder picked up some twigs and threw them off the small slope she was on, thanks to the wet terrain they slid and stopped just before the cave. Twigs only won't do, something bigger was needed, there were some branches here as well, they weren't long but at least they were thicker. Nevertheless she needed to make them shorter carrying and dragging them intact didn't make any sense since they wouldn't fit in the campfire she planned to make. She instantly knew how to make them smaller.

She turned around, her back facing the branch and raised her tail, the iron blade-like end cut through the wood just like a knife cuts through butter. She started chopping the branch bit by bit, kicking the pieces down from the slightly steep ground with her hind paw. One branch wasn't enough, it will be already hard to lit it as it is , if she would prepare more pieces they could be left lying next to the fire to dry up a little, and put into it when needed, that way the fire would be burning longer.

Cynder placed some branches next to each other before starting to chop them down, she didn't want to waste any more time. Just when she was working on the next branch something stirred her, she instinctively looked ahead at the forest covered in darkness.

Nothing.

She shook her head and continued working. After a while she felt something again, she looked at the forest one more time.

Nothing.

"Becoming insane is the last thing you want" she thought and renewed her work.

Cynder finished chopping down a branch and got into position to start working on the next one. She couldn't help herself, she occasionally shot glances at the forest ahead and every time she did that she felt the feeling of anxiousness getting stronger, besides this unnerving sensation she could also feel that her heart was beating faster. A strong wind howled through the trees making a wind chime noise that made her jump a bit.

"What's wrong with you? It's just a wind pull yourself together!" she comforted herself as best as she could, but no matter what thoughts crossed her mind she didn't feel any better

Another branch landed under her tail, this time however she kept an eye on the woods ahead. Cynder started to sweat and with every passing moment her heartbeat increased. It may be only her imagination, but with every blink of her eyes it looked like the darkness that covered the woods was getting closer and closer.

There were still some branches to take care off and she needed to HURRY, Cynder didn't even finish the last one before moving to the next, she was so focused on the darkness she didn't notice that after chopping down a piece her tail was hitting the ground most of the time, but it didn't matter she was convinced that she did it right. Cynder started to quiver and a feeling of stuffiness struck her, she stopped working when she heard a howl probably created by the wind.

She stared at the woods ahead, her heart pounded at her chest with such a force that it was almost painful. The uneasiness was growing inside of her and it was getting stronger with every passing moment. She stared ahead without moving an inch, that is until she heard a sound coming from the right side of the forest. Cynder turned her head immediately in that direction to see what caused it. Another sound, this time from the left, caught her attention. Soon she heard another one in front of her. They sounded like whispers or faint growls and they were coming from every corner of the forest.

Cynder stood there and turned her head in every direction, she froze when she had seen a pair of glittering red dots that appeared in the darkness, after a while many others penetrated the dark curtain. The darkness was closing in on her as if it wanted to embrace her, some fast moving dark shapes were visible on the ground just at the edge of it.

Cynder couldn't move, she was paralyzed, she watched the darkness moving closer and closer ready to consume her. Just when it was close enough that she could touch it if she wanted to, a huge and horrifying monster with red eyes appeared making her moan in fear. She was trembling and staring into those eyes, Cynder wanted to run away from it as far as possible but she couldn't move, only when it emitted a terrifying and deafening roar she snapped out from her paralyze.

She instantly took some quick steps backwards, completely forgetting that there were branches behind her. Cynder tripped over one of them, she could see her own tail a couple of times just right in front of her eyes as she rolled down the small slope. Before she could do anything the little rise ended and moments later she hit a stone wall. Cynder fell on her back, dizzied, but her eyes automatically moved in the direction of the forest. The red-eyed beast roared again from the slope and started walking slowly towards her, the darkness following in its wake. The vertigo passed away instantly at the sight of that monster.

Cynder got up in mere seconds and turned to face the creature, she didn't know why but she HAD to look at it. Cynder's heart was racing and to make things worse she could feel a sharp pain in her chest that intensified the longer she stared at the beast. She tried to retreat, but something was blocking her way, she didn't even look behind her to check what it was. Cynder sidestepped quickly trying to find a way to bypass the obstacle, the moment she felt an opening she started to back up again.

For every step the creature took towards her she did one backwards, she was staring at it intently, watching its every move. They were doing it for who knows how long, but everything has to end eventually. The creature was walking faster and faster with every second, it looked irritated about this whole situation, obviously it had enough of playing games.

It was closing in for the kill.

Only when it pounced after her Cynder turned around and started to run, she didn't make it far, she had troubles breathing and the pain in her chest was unbearable. Cynder stopped, panting heavily, she lowered her head, she had difficulties catching breath. Cynder tried to inhale as much precious air as she could, but what for? The monster will tear her to shreds soon enough.

She looked behind her ready to face it for the last time, but to her surprise there was nothing there. She thought she had lost it, but the glee ended as quickly as it started. The red eyes appeared again, she yelped the moment she saw them. Cynder started to run instantly, but this time she didn't look behind her, she turned her head to see what's in front of her. The moment she did that a purple snout emerged, she screamed in horror when she saw it.

Cynder changed direction immediately, she didn't want to look at it, she didn't care what it was, she just wanted to run away from it, it didn't matter where, she just wanted to be as far as possible from it.

"Cynder it's me!" something shouted behind her, it sounded familiar but she didn't stop to see what it was.

Her strength was fleeting, she could feel it but she didn't stop. Something grabbed her tail and it was pulling her backwards. Cynder pushed forward trying to slip away and at the same time she wagged her tail violently, trying to shake this thing off, after a brief struggle she succeeded her tail was free. The moment she was trying to get it back to its natural position she hit something with it. As before she didn't check what was it, it could have been a rock or the thing that grabbed her, whatever it was she just hoped it slowed down the pursuers.

Cynder was running slower and slower but the sound coming from behind kept her going. She ran and ran, never looking back, avoiding a rock here, a tree there, sometimes she slid from small slopes never stopping to catch some breath. She would do it for a bit longer until she would collapse from exhaustion, but it never came to that, unexpectedly one of her paws sank into a hole in the ground. Cynder fell on her belly, she tried to get up but her paws were shaking whenever she tried to rise, Cynder couldn't keep her balance, every attempt ended with a fall.

This is it then, everything will end right here and now, her strength left her completely, the only thing that remained was the sharp pain in her chest, this time however it was so intense that she touched her chest with her paw as to try to ease the pain even a little. The screeching noise blocked all the sound, only a loud roared penetrated it and it was close, it sounded like it came just from above her head. She didn't look up, instead Cynder touched the ground with her nose and closed her eyes, she could feel the beast leaning over her with its maw wide open any many fangs sticking out of it ready to bite her head off and a wet drop, probably a drool, which landed on her back only confirmed it.

Cynder screamed when she felt some cold claws touching her, she never expected it, but the sensation sparked the flame of survival in her like it would probably in every living creature, a strong impulsive feeling to cling to life even in the worst circumstances. With renewed strength she started to fight desperately. Cynder was shaking, twitching, beating her wings, wagging her tail, kicking with hind and slashing with her front paws just to break free from the claws that held her in place. The only thing she could hear were some annoyed loud growls, the sound of them only made her to try harder. The struggle was going on for some time, but eventually she managed to break free by hitting the beast with her wing and giving it a solid kick, not only she could escape now, but she also hurt the monster, Cynder heard its painful roar as she started to crawl away from it.

Spyro only managed to emit a faint scream before he coughed painfully several times, tears and pain clouded his vision. He shook on his paws from this anguish, she kicked him in the tender spot on his right side, Spyro had troubles breathing already, but now it was even worse. Before he could take only shallows breaths without suffering, but now every attempt to inhale the air ended with a cough, he talked about spitting his lungs out sarcastically, but now it felt quite real, he could almost feel like they were making their way up his chest and towards his throat. Spyro fell on the ground coughing all the time, the pain was unbearable, also he felt like he was choking, he tried to do something about it but the cough prevented any attempt to inhale deeply. He lay there for a couple of seconds fighting with his injuries, after a while the uncomfortable feeling was fading, the pain still pretty intense was subsiding, but most importantly he could breathe again, shallow of course, but at least he felt the air in his lungs again, he raised his head.

She was still getting away but she wasn't far, he saw her getting up, taking maybe one or two steps and falling again, she could only move forward by crawling on the ground. Spyro won't have troubles catching her, she looked exhausted but he underestimated her once already.

"Enough" Spyro murmured under his breath and got up

This time however he won't be delicate, he tried twice already and it always ended with her escape and he was dead worry about her, he never seen Cynder acting like this and he needed to stop her to figure out what the hell is going on. No, this is no time to be gentle.

Spyro ran after her, it took him only moments to catch up, this time he didn't hold her with his paws only, he covered Cynder with his body, pinning her to the ground. As he expected she screamed in terror when she felt his touch, she fought valiantly to break free, trying in every possible way to knock him off of her back, but she struggled in vain. Spyro was heavier than her and it looked like the fatigue finally took its toll.

"Cynder! It's me!" he yelled

There was no reaction from her, she was still shaking under him, weaker and weaker with every passing moment as she tried to escape, using the last ounces of her strength. Her attempts to run away were futile, Spyro knew he controlled the situation, there was no chance she will get away this time.

'It's me, Spyro!" he yelled again

Cynder didn't react at first, only when he repeated his name again he felt her shifting under him as she was slowly realizing who is holding her.

"Spyro, run!" Cynder exclaimed faintly, she didn't even have the strength to scream loudly

"I'm not going anywhere"

"Let me go, let me go, let me go..." she kept repeating the same words over and over again between gasps

"Cynder calm down" he said firmly, Spyro hated himself for acting so cold but she was clearly in panic, tender words won't do much good here

"I can hear it. It is close!" she yelled and shook violently trying to lose the extra weight and to make enough space so she could slip away

"Hear what?" he asked confused while adding some extra pressure to hold her in place

"It's right behind us!"

Spyro was even more dumbfounded than before after hearing her words, that was the direction from which they came running and he was pretty sure he didn't see anything on his way. Nevertheless he turned his head to look behind him and it was just as he expected, there was nothing there.

"It's getting closer!" she tried again to escape

"Cynder, there is nothing there!" Spyro yelled so she could clearly hear him

"It's going to kill us!"

"There is nothing there!"

"We need to run, its..."

"Nothing's there!" he leaned closer almost resting his head on hers "Calm down" he said softly

"But...but..." she stuttered

"Cynder relax, I'll make sure you are safe" his calm words seemed to be working since she slowly ceased to struggle but still remained pretty tensed

"We are going to die" Cynder said resigned, stopping every attempt to break free, she lay there flat on the ground with her nose touching the earth

"No one's going to die"

"We need to run it's right beside us"

"Nothing's there" Spyro said vigorously

"Why are you lying?"

"I'm not, look for yourself"

"I don't want to!" she yelped

"Cynder, rise your head" he said with a soft, but also demanding tone

She was panting heavily and trembling unrelentingly, Spyro could hear her every breath. At first she was laying in the same position like she tried to ignore him, but after a while Cynder started to shift under him and reluctantly raise her head.

Spyro slowly backed up, giving her some space, but still holding her with his paws. To his surprise however when her head was in a position to see everything around her she was still panting and shaking like she didn't really acknowledge what is happening. Spyro leaned closer to get a good look at her snout and when he did that he saw the reason why her behavior didn't change.

"Open your eyes" he said rigidly

He had to repeat himself several times to finally get a reaction from her. The moment he saw her eyes he gasped, they looked really unfocused, blurry and dull. The incisive green color of her eyes was gone, someone once told him that everything hides in them, emotions, traits, feelings, even personality, a true window to one's soul. Spyro was no expert, but if somebody would ask him what he thinks he would say that her eyes were stripped of all these things.

Her pupils were moving nervously in every direction, not focusing on anything, like nothing existed for them maybe expect one thing he couldn't see himself but surely she did. He could see them moving left, right, then quickly returning and suddenly freezing in place. She was staring at something very unpleasant and scary since her eyes were getting wider and wider with each passing second, she started to tremble violently under him, this time however she didn't even try to escape, he didn't feel any pressure from her side, she just lay there, paralyzed.

Spyro lifted himself up, took his paws off of her and it was like he expected, she didn't move. He thought that he managed to calm her down a bit and bring her back to her senses since she was talking to him after all. The previous attempt to shake her out of this state didn't work well, it was close, but there was something missing, soon he found out what it was.

Spyro sat in front of her trying to block the image she was seeing and to have a good look at her, to his surprise Cynder didn't even twitch. He thought that she didn't recognize him in this state, he leaned closer so she could see him better.

Still nothing.

Her pupils were locked in the same position, they seemed like they were seeing through him like he didn't exist in the first place. Fear gripped his heart when he got a good look at her eyes, they seemed to be going darker and darker with every passing moment, like life was being sucked out from them.

It was wrong, really, really wrong.

He took her head into his paws and made her to look at him.

"Listen to me Cynder" despite the fear he said these words with the most adamant tone he could muster at that time

"We are going to die" she muttered

"No!" he yelled "We won't because there is nothing there"

"It's close" Cynder babbled

"The thing you are seeing doesn't exist"

"But..."

He shook her head and yelled "Listen to me!" and without taking a breath he continued "There is nothing there, we are alone here "

She moved her head trying to get a good look at the thing that was supposedly behind him "I see it, it's real" she said with a wavering voice

Spyro made her to look at him again "No, it's not!" he snapped " If there was a threat I would defend you, Cynder you know that"

"Where are you then?!' she burst out "I can feel it, it's holding me"

"That's me Cynder, I'm holding you, you are looking at me now" he said softly

"Then hel...."

"Focus Cynder and trust me nothing is going to happen, you are safe"

Spyro interrupted her before she could continue, he had to convince her that this is all happening in her head and if he would allow her to speak that might make things only worse. Her pupils seemed to narrow and focus directly on him but moments later they again widened and she twitched a little.

"You are safe" Spyro repeated tenderly

When he saw that she wanted to say something or when she tried to move her head he repeated the same words over and over again. Spyro thought that this isn't helping, he was doing it for quite some time now and just when he was about to try something else, unexpectedly she blinked. He saw her pupils jumping between him and the image she saw behind his back and every time it happened she blinked, clearly trying to discern what is real and what is just an illusion. Spyro didn't allow her to have any doubts by talking to her all the time, he felt like some sort of a guide leading her to reality.

Her eyes froze in place, she was looking directly at him, this time however it looked like she acknowledged his presence. Spyro saw how color was returning to her eyes and it seemed like life was its partner, it wasn't long before he was staring into these sharp green eyes again he adored so much. Spyro was still holding her head and he could feel how relaxed she was, the whole fear, stress and panic vanished in an instant like they were never there.

"Wow" Cynder muttered amazed

Spyro was just staring at her and lowering his paws down her head until they touched her neck, he heard Cynder gasp in shock when he impulsively stretched her neck and hugged her, slightly dragging her sprawled body across the ground. Spyro squeezed her tightly, forming a protective embrace around her like he tried to prevent all these feelings and emotions from escaping again.

His unexpected move caught her off guard, she was pretty tensed at first, but then she rested her head on his shoulder, relaxing completely and enjoying the moment.

"Spyro, I'm choking" Cynder said ironically after a while

He let her go, slowly backing up with his eyes fixed on her. He sighed in relief when he saw her smiling, after everything this sight was even more pleasant than normally.

"Welcome back" Spyro smiled "Don't you ever do that to me again" he warned

"Promise" Cyder said smiling, after a brief pause she added "Thanks Spyro for not giving up and helping me to put myself back together" she said sincerely

"That's what friends are for, you would do the same for me" he replied happily

Cynder smiled and tried to get up, but when she moved she grunted in pain.

"Whoa" she exclaimed "You sure weight a lot, I feel like all my bones were crushed, consider grabbing a salad every now and then" she winked

Spyro chuckled and watched her getting up slowly. When she stood up she stretched as far as she could, relaxing her muscles, after that she moved her tail back and forth like getting used to feeling it again, lastly she unfurled her black wings, grimacing slightly as she did that, they took the worst of it since they were the first thing Spyro felt when he pinned her to the ground. Cynder flapped her wings several times just to make the pain go away, after a while she furled them satisfied.

"Come on, let's get out of here" Cynder urged Spyro nodding towards the direction from which they came

"That's it then?" he asked surprised

'What?"

"You were in panic or whatever it was minutes ago, I've never seen you acting like this, and now you will pretend like nothing ever happened?

She sighed "I hit the wall Spyro I just want to lie down and rest, we will talk later ok?"

Spyro wanted to know what has happened here and now, but he decided not to ask any questions, she looked exhausted and after everything she needed a moment's respite.

"Let's get back to the cave" with that he started to retrace their steps

When he passed by her he saw smiling faintly, it was an ambiguous smile showing that she was grateful he didn't question her here but it also meant that she will have to give him some answers the moment they get there, he won't back down and she knew that.