FSE

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Chapter 14

This is a complete chaos, everything was ruined by the golems. There is just so many of them and they are interfering with his...what exactly? Doesn't matter, interference means punishment and those creatures are all going to pay for this.

Everything started to shake all of a sudden, once only strong yet at the same time not so powerful tremors ran across the ground. It almost felt like Boven was inside a snow globe with snowflakes falling down around the place while being shaken violently by some unappeased brat. In reality golems were the brat and stones were the snowflakes.

And there is plenty of both.

Unexpectedly golems began to charge from the forest, throwing shockwaves as they ran and demolishing buildings on their way, either by the reddish rings they released or by hurled draconic bodies. Everything happened quickly after that, the constructs were at the dragon's throats in an instant, roars of agony and wrath filled the air, both coming from living and artificial creatures. Blood and overall destruction ruled this place now.

And he only wanted to add to the already hideous pool. And currently the golems were on the menu.

Spyro roared triumphantly as he stood on the crumbling golem, the creature had enough, the fire inside its body died and with it the invisible connection that kept the construct's form intact. There was a rumbling sound as the golem turned to rubble, in the middle of it stood a single bleeding purple dragon. Deep cuts were scarring his draconic body, streaks of blood were flowing down from them, in places very profusely.

He wasn't sated, Spyro didn't understand why he feels this...specific craving or what it is hungry for exactly. Or did he? Many different roars and explosions of all kinds of elemental energy rumbled all around him, golems were everywhere, EVERYWHERE. No matter where he turned his eyes at least one of those things was there, and it was interfering with his...something.

They have to pay for this.

Spyro marked his prey, it was a golem which just killed one of the younger dragons and now turned its attention to him. It began its slow thudding walk.

Spyro snarled and walked straight at the construct, or at least he wanted to. A sharp pain shooting across his chest forced his paw back. He looked down, droplets of blood dripped on the earth, a familiar metallic taste filled his mouth as the blood flowing down from his nose touched his lips. A shard of glass was sticking out from his golden scales.

He didn't care about the bleeding nose, he didn't care about the pain when he pulled out the hunk from his chest with one swift motion, and especially he didn't care about the lifeless gold draconic tail he just stepped over, whose owner served as bait.

The golem ahead was all that mattered.

The construct confidently walked towards the purple drake, Spyro walked confidently towards it, almost like two cowboys sauntering to the place of the final countdown. During one of its strides the rocky creature extended its arms and slapped its hands powerfully. A reddish ring was released straight at the purple drake, accompanied by tiny bits of black rock from the golem's hands.

Spyro didn't run, nor he tried to avoid the attack, he just continued his challenging walk unhindered by any emotion...or not.

Whatever. Unimportant.

The moment the reddish ring struck him Spyro cringed while letting out an irritated growl. Besides the powerful sting that seemed to pierce his brain and fresh blood gushing from his nose he didn't feel much pain. He wasn't surprised by this, just like he wasn't surprised by the fact that he was still standing when he should be blown away by the shockwave.

Whatever. Unimportant.

As if trying to show the golem with who its dealing with the purple drake roared deafeningly. Crimson blood shot from his mouth as he parted his lips covered in red wet, thick liquid, while at the same time brandishing his razor sharp teeth that also adopted a reddish hue. A sight that possibly would scare any living creature away.

But the golem had no mind, it knew no fear and this is why exactly the young male began to run at it.

His head went low, his horns pointed ahead and flames burst from below his paws and from between his horns. He gained immense speed in seconds, leaving a tongue of burning flame behind him, the golem was just too slow to stop the attacking dragon. Spyro went at one of its massive legs, the ground shook when the golem's big fists dented the earth behind him.

There was a rumbling thud when his horns made contact with the rocky leg, flames shot in every direction after the impact, together with bits of black rocks. Spyro was thrown back by the force of the impact but kept standing, even the golem felt the strike, he could hear the creature roaring furiously as it slightly shook on its legs.

It recovered quickly, its leg went up in a blink of an eye, ready to crush the insufferable drake below, however Spyro was on all fours, so when the leg went down he was already safe away from its big dimension. Yet he could still feel the tremor running through the ground, and being so close to the origin point pushed him into a very shaky course, as if he was drunk.

To counter this Spyro spread his wings and went up quickly, he could feel the air squeezing around him, something very heavy was heading his way. He pressed his wings to his body and made a crosswise dive while channeling his Ice element. Bluish sparks began to bounce of his tail tip, like sparks from a recently started fire. Instinctively he swung his tail, the icy tip made contact with the flying arm, slowing it down a little, thanks to that he was able to push away from its reach, if only by inches.

However the dragon completely ignored the fact that the golem has already seen its share of battle and possessed the ability to swing its arms much faster than a freshly engaged construct. Before Spyro could react he was struck by an another arm, it came so fast that he only managed to take a quick glimpse of it before being hit.

Something cracked, as he was spinning he wasn't quite sure what it was. A bone? Or something else?

He forced his body to a stop, he felt no pain, only something dark was eating at his soul right now. A parasite sucking out the pain but at the same time feeding its host with confusion. Chaos even.

Whatever. Unimportant.

Spyro dashed at the creature, if he would feel pain flying would be impossible, no dragon would be able to withstand the grating of bone against bone in his currently deformed right wing. But he was no ordinary dragon right now, he was something more, something indescribable.

When he got close the golem swung at him again, Spyro however instead of trying to maneuver around them to find a gap in the golem's defense he flipped up towards the sky and went down momentarily. The rocky creature tried to crush the drake in one powerful clap of its hands but missed, the golden tip slipped out of its reach.

Spyro went directly at the ground, with his Earth element built up in his veins he covered himself with his wings, as if wrapping a scaly cocoon around his body before he stretched it horizontally. The brownish draconic cocoon smacked at the ground, his Earth Pound ability was fully charged by then. Green waves of energy shot across the ground at impact.

Each of these waves sent shockwaves across the ground, in some places the earth had enough, the ground cracked right behind the sliding green waves, coughing up dirt when it parted. These spider-webs surrounded the golem's leg and then the ground gave up under its weight. It cracked inwards, just like a carton box after a blow from a clenched fist.

The golem roared surprised when its leg went down and sank into the big hole. Its whole body faltered, it tried to punish the drake for this attack but when its other leg touched the earth same situation happened.

Taking advantage of the construct's vulnerable position Spyro flew right in between its spread legs. The golem tried to crush the drake, but when it raised one of its legs, the hole in which the other one was standing grew deeper. Forcing the creature into another fight for balance.

And this is what the dragon waited for, he dashed towards the stammering hulking creature and swiftly maneuvered his body around the golem's left flank. It was then when time froze, literally, Spyro didn't even hear the specific hollow noise whenever he stopped the sun. He didn't even feel when he actually channeled his Time powers, it happened just like that, naturally, as if he didn't lose contact with his time freezing powers in the first place.

Power.

He had all of it at his disposal.

But there was something far more deadlier clawing at his flesh from the inside, wanting to get out, almost peeking through the invisible holes in his scales, and Spyro just couldn't push it back. For that barely noticeable second it scared the hell out of him.

Whatever. Unimportant.

He made his way towards the creature's back where the only know vulnerable spot was located, the world trapped inside a huge still bubble didn't even move by inch, he was the only one moving at full speed, and he took advantage of it. His claws slashed so fast that Spyro was barely able to register their movements with his troubled and confused eyes.

Spyro added his ice breath to support his slashes In this chaotic attack. The cold breath he was letting out at the neck should at least sting his paws, but he didn't feel a thing, as if the freezing mist coming out from his mouth was nothing more than a weak puff of wind.

It looked like his strikes didn't have any effect, the neck looked the same, as if nothing ever touched it. Spyro knew it was just an illusion, the world around him was slowly starting to break from the time freezing bubble. Deformed noises of roars and ongoing battle were reaching him, some small black rocks were slowly splitting from the golem's neck. The vinyl record entitled time was slowly disposing the screeches on the gramophone of life.

The dragon pushed back, when he was far enough he started to release every possible elemental projectile at his disposal. Fire, Ice, Earth and occasional Electricity were being sent at the golem like lashes of a very enthusiastic torturer. The attacks were coming out of Spyro's mouth so quickly, just like shallows breaths after a very long run. He didn't feel any waver of his form, nor he ne needed any rest, breathing out elemental attacks was as easy and natural as breathing air.

And then it happened, with one powerful thud every possible sound that was held back by his Time power hit the drake all at once. The purple dragon didn't care about those other noises, as uncomfortable as they were, for him the only sound that mattered was that of cracking rocks and a furious rumbling roar of a construct. The natural armor on the creature's neck exploded into bits, revealing the fiery essence in its wildest form.

The golem stammered, its whole body wavered, fighting to recover from all this magical projectiles and then after one earth missile too much it went dormant. Spyro knowing how the golem reacts to a beating was already a safe distance away from the fire ring that soon erupted from the roaring golem.

However safe distance doesn't mean complete security.

A powerful shockwave hit him from behind, the unexpected strike didn't cast him like a ragdoll but was enough to push the dragon's body forward. Spyro groaned after the surprised attack, but couldn't hear his own voice, the ringing inside his head after the strike was deafening. Blood gushed like lava erupting from a volcano.

To make things worse this wasn't the end of his troubles.

The thing he so prepared to avoid was now his torturer. Even in his state Spyro roared painfully when he was pushed directly into the hot reddish ring. A bone cracked somewhere again, not able to withstand the crushing forces from both sides at the same time. He felt like a rolled paper, that is being pressed and pressed until it resembles a round ball.

And the heat.

The stench of burning flesh filled his nostrils, in places where his body was more exposed to the effects of fire his purple scales started to peel off slightly, like used bloody, scorched strands of bandage. Not to mention that every possible cut on his body sent agonizing pulses throughout his entire body as they were involuntary seared by the heat.

The parasite reminded him of its presence, so harshly that Spyro could imagine a bulge slithering just underneath his scales, stretching them to their limits. There was something overpowering behind this roughness however, the bulge was like a beating second heart, filling him with dark addicting energy. His mind was slowly behind hypnotized with every thud inside his skull that followed the dark heart's beats.

The pain was gone.

The two golems that Spyro was currently in between began their charge, the constructs were probably too dumb to realize that he seems to be at his finest no matter how hard beating he got. The constructs were obviously created to do one thing, stop the dragons at all costs and don't bother with trifles like caution for example.

The purple drake straightened his battered body, completely ignoring the fact that the previously broken wing looked much worse than before, no dragon would withstand the pain that unfolding such wing to flight would cause. Spyro had no problems with that.

He darted upwards while beginning to spin around, faster and faster. His Snow Storm ability was powered in a blink of an eye, a feat that usually took a while to be properly fueled was now ready to sow destruction in a couple of seconds. The temperature dropped considerably around the drake. A whizzing wind suddenly sprang up, but this whirl of nature was different than Cynder's twister, this wind was cold as the snow itself, punishing anyone that dared to come near with icy lashes. Spyro turned into a freezing cyclone so quickly that the charging golems only made two steps before he began his attack.

Snow and ice shards began to shoot in every direction like from some kind of fast spinning cannon. The first projectiles slowed every enemy while the second ones usually killed everyone around. But the golem's were tough so Spyro had to be content with the slowing part only. He began to spin in the direction of the golem he attacked earlier, deaf to the painful roars of other dragons, the purple drake didn't even realize that the reach of his Snow Storm extended far beyond the usual boundaries.

The spitting winter's ammunition was taking effect, the golem he marked was wavering on its legs, even if it's practically indestructible it still felt the effect of the freezing cyclone, and thanks to the wafting snow it had no means to protect itself. It was slowed and it was the perfect opportunity to strike, Spyro ended his attack just as fast as he started it and got behind the golem quite fast, even despite the fact that one of his wings looked miserable.

To buy himself even more time he looked behind the golem's massive shoulder and spit a leafy bomb at the golem ahead. The greenish projectile exploded on impact and turned into a large tornado, sucking everything and everyone close enough. The golem ahead with two combined slow effect was practically immobile, the purple dragon had all the time in the world to finish what he started.

Spyro spun around, channeling Ice to his tail tip, soon small bluish sparks began to jump out of it. He then sunk his tail into the fiery crack on the golem's neck, the creature roared agonizingly and began to thrash as fast as it could to shake off the annoying draconic vermin. Its flailing arms and twisting body was not the only mean of defense, the fiery essence from which the construct was made of almost began to boil, it felt like he was putting his tail into a volcano filled with lava.

It hurt at first, no, hurt is a wrong word. It was suffering, one profound, indescribable anguish.

And then there was nothing.

At first the fiery essence completely overwhelmed his tip, the end of his tail was totally gone, vanished somewhere behind the cracking flames, as if it fell off. But then there was that flicker of bluish light, then another one, another and another, like a pulse of an icy heart. The glacial hue began to grow stronger with each second, dispersing fire like light of a candle disperses darkness. Soon nothing could be heard besides the sound of hissing dying flames and the familiar sounds of cracking ice.

It grew cold.

The golem's insides, if you can say so, were no longer hot but cold. Ice began to glue itself to the inner side of the golem's rocky armor, while the sparks that constantly jumped out of the dragon's tip pushed the remaining fire down. A chilly mist filled the entire structure, the golem's body no longer resembled a volcano, it turned into an ice cave.

The golem thrashed slower and slower and it wasn't because of the fact that it was fighting off the hindering effects of the Snow Storm, no, it was slowing because it was being ripped of its soul. Eventually the layers of frost covered the golem's inner structure completely, killing the fiery essence in the process. It was then when Spyro withdrew his tail and the golem went dormant with only icy tongues of air wafting from the cracks on its armor.

And then it collapsed.

It was then when Spyro took a glimpse of his tail, the end of it was scorched beyond imagination, where there were scales once now only charred and mostly bloody flesh remained. Not to mention that the scales on the upper parts of the tail were wrinkled, had stinging boils on them, or completely peeled off.

Whatever. Unimportant.

" Spyro watch out!"

The purple dragon turned into the direction of the shout, he couldn't see the owner of this draconic roar, the view was blocked by massive black and fiery golems marching his way, all of them had layers of snow still covering their bodies. Some of the constructs extended their arms. In any other situation he would curse himself for drawing such attention to himself, but currently it didn't bother him in the slightest.

With rumbling claps reddish shockwaves were released at him, he didn't really count how many.

Three maybe?

Five?

Six?

Spyro laded swiftly on the ground and pressed his belly to the earth, the reddish rings cut through the air with hollow whizzes just above his horns, the golems obviously don't have much prediction when it comes to magical attacks.

There were several golems approaching him, the ground below his belly bounced like a drum, sending delicate shivers throughout his whole wounded body.

" Spyro get out of there!"

Someone shouted but the purple dragon ignored the friendly advice completely, it had the same meaning for him like yesterday's food. Instead he pushed himself up and turned his head around. There were five golems coming at him from all sides, there was no way to run besides going up.

He closed his eyes.

The grass below his paws burst in flames, yet he didn't feel the heat, the air around him began to waver, just like a gas would be escaping through an invisible pipe. The mirage around him soon adopted a more yellowish hue, before it finally burst in hot red flames with the sound of a single crack of igniting fire. A cylinder of fire surrounded the dragon, holding him in the middle like within some kind of magical barrier. All the surrounding grass burst in flames, the heat around the drake was unbearable.

" FURY!"

" GET BACK!"

Were those terrified roars or just whizzes of the wind?

Whatever. Unimportant.

The dragon felt great, he is drawing the energy from the very essence of his existence and doesn't feel even a bit drained. In this fiery cocoon he felt that dark parasite pumping something very addictive, very quickly underneath his scales. It was sucking the exhaustion out, Spyro felt like he could wipe the whole world with just a single blast if he was given the time.

The golems will do for now.

He opened his literally flaming eyes.

*

Cynder could barely see anything, only flashes of the surrounding battlefield flipped before her eyes as she bounced across the earth in a straight line. The shockwave is quite powerful and has quite a throw if you don't try to stop your body, such tactic has also its downfalls.

Pain is one of them.

The dragoness constantly let out feminine grunts whenever her body forcefully sprang from the ground. Every part of her slender body took the beating from the rough ground, starting from her head to end on her tail, occasionally the mentioned tail was thrown in such unfortunate twist that she slapped herself.

She was sliding so fast that no golem or backstabbing dragon tried to attack her. With another ground and another bounce she spotted a tree in the distance, sharp rough rocks were protruding from its trunk, probably remnants of a building and she was heading straight at them.

Cynder gritted her teeth. This is going to hurt like hell.

And then suddenly the air around her grew immensely hot, soon after there was a rumbling thud with explosion following soon after. The shockwave after the blast not only burned her body slightly but also threw her in a completely different direction.

She didn't have the comfort to think what just happened, since seconds later she collided with a wall. Her back hit the obstacle first, Cynder let out a moan of pain when the impact glued her body in a vertical position to the rough stones.

She opened her eyes and spotted the sharp edge of her blade like tip dangling in front of her nose. The dragoness slapped it away impulsively, it was then when she spotted some wooden boards falling down on her from above. The building's rooftop was in a terrible condition, the wooden planks from which it was made were loose in some places. The dragoness collision with the house sent delicate pulses through the whole already weakened wall, it turned out that the shock was enough to push the loose boards down. Unfortunately straight at the female below.

With a gasp Cynder pushed her rump from the wall, the lower part of her body made a flip backwards, following the black tail, as if trying to catch the slender center of gravity. With her head now against the wall and the lower part of her body landing on the ground with a hollow thud, Cynder instantly covered herself with her wings, so that only the end of her tail stood out from the protective cocoon.

Wings as the dragons natural means of defense were more resilient to pain and overall damage, yet even those shields were a part of a draconic body and whenever they received a blow they reminded their owner of that. She was used to the numbing, specific pain, every dragon was, this is why the dragoness gritted her teeth, muffling every sound of pain as best as she could. It was some kind of feral instinct, she has never met a dragon who would scream himself hoarse when struck at his membranes. As if it was some kind of natural draconic ritual to comfort one's body.

Cynder felt the boards hitting her wings, pilling on top of her, like snow from an avalanche. The additional weight on her back pushed her body lower and lower, if the boards won't stop falling her belly will soon make an indentation in the ground. But it stopped, sooner than she expected truthfully.

At least a tiny portion of good news in this whole mess.

Another explosion could be heard.

The shaking earth forced adrenaline to pump in her veins, instantly she arched her back and head upwards as hard as she could. It was enough, the boards slid of off her with ease and before she knew it she could stick her head out through the wooden pile of planks.

The air was warm, and not by natural means.

Cynder instantly turned her head in the direction from which the heat was coming from, her eyes widened to their limit. Up ahead, quite far, there was a battle going on, huge embers were shooting from the big cylindrical barrier of fire, which soon directed themselves towards the ground, as they went down they resembled small meteorites.

She recognized this phenomenon immediately.

Fire fury.

There were five golems circling the fiery shape, four of them were already down, pinned under the weight of the falling powerful embers. Only one golem remained standing, blocking her view, not that she really had to see who is behind all of this. She just felt his presence here, a delicate cold shiver of fear ran through her body after this realization.

Explosion after explosion ravaged the ground around the burning cylinder, each and every one them was coming from the fallen golems which were constantly bombarded by the falling meteorites. The flashes of fiery light were too much for her eyes, the dragoness had to avert her gaze.

Cynder instantly wished she didn't.

The wielder of this fury attack had no compunction, no hesitation and no care for his comrades in arms. Judging from the distance between the scorched ground and the cylindrical fiery barrier, the fury was released way too early, hell, using fury when your allies are around is reckless enough, but using fury when your allies are practically fighting back to back with you? This is callousness.

The golems were there where the ground was scorched, no doubt about that, prints of their massive feet were clearly visible on the black earth. The charred ground followed every big track, meaning that the golems were the target of this attack.

This is where the good news end however.

Blackened draconic remains dotted the earth where the first explosions happened, Cynder couldn't really tell if those fighters were dead earlier or were the victims of the fire fury. The sole sight was enough for the dragoness to feel cold fingers of fear and nervousness tracing her spine. If that fire wielder has no remorse about killing his allies than that means he is beyond saving, innocent blood taints for life, you can't just simply wash it off like some dirt. The guilt stays with you forever.

The only flicker of hope she had, even if she was gutted by it, was the sight of wounded dragons who were keeping their distance from the ember's reach. Some of those fighters had their bodies covered in fresh burns, an obvious sign that they tried to run but were caught in the blast nonetheless.

But they are alive!

That single comforting thought slipped through her mind like a speeding arrow and was as meaningful as last year's snow.

So what if they're alive?

The burns on their bodies were proof enough that the wielder of this fury didn't give a damn about their well-being, had no respect for their life. For him those fighters were expendable, meaningless casualties of war. Distractions. Bait.

Another fiery explosion rumbled close by, empowered by a furious, almost mechanical roar.

Cynder swiftly turned her head in that direction, the last golem has fallen, joined its rocky companions on the ground. As if to make sure it stays down a fiery ember exploded on its back. Yet the golem's downfall wasn't the trigger that filled her heart with joy...and terror at the same time.

It was the fire wielder.

When sparks of the last meteor finally cleared the view Cynder couldn't help herself but to let out a whine full of pain. Spyro was there as she knew he would, and to make things worse he was badly hurt.

That sole sight was enough for her, the dragoness arched her body forcefully and with such passion and determination that the boards on top off her seemed to slide out of her way on their own. Cynder clambered out of the wooden avalanche of planks in an instant and just as fast dashed towards her friend.

After four steps she stopped.

And what is she going to say? Tell him to stop because he's hurting people? Or perhaps that he looks like he just dug himself out from his own grave? What if he asks her from where the cuts came from? What is she going to say? That she scratched herself on a branch that ironically perfectly resembles dragon claws? She already sees as he listens, especially in his current state.

To hell with reason! That's her friend over there who needs her help more than ever. Bad idea or not she's going to see it through, she owes him that much. The dragoness renewed her run, determined to reach her friend without thinking of the consequences of such action. Was it love that drove her? Or friendship? Or both? The choker around her neck suddenly became warm, the scales below it reached the same temperature, it was like she was chained to him all this time by an invisible bond and this connection was currently pulling her closer to him.

This time however she didn't protest.

And then suddenly she caught with a corner of her eye something very large rolling down from her right side.

Cynder instinctively jumped back with a gasp, just in time to avoid being ran over by a huge boulder. She had experience with elemental energy, that is why she knew that this large rock is no ordinary stone that somehow rolled down from some sort of a mountain. That is why she didn't waste time looking for some rational explanation of this situation but immediately covered herself behind her wings.

Just in time in fact, seconds before her magenta membranes covered her vulnerable snout she noticed the boulder sprouting spikes. And then there was a loud rumbling explosion. The dragoness dropped to the ground as fast as she could, she could feel some of the spikes flying just above her head and piercing the area around her. However there were those that found their mark and now were sticking out of her wings.

Hissing painfully Cynder grabbed one of the rocky shards in her teeth and spit it out, together with bloody saliva gathered in her mouth. A sharp peculiar sting ran through her bones, a natural radar inside her body so to speak that sensed every hostile magical attack.

The dragoness rolled to the side, an ice projectile exploded directly in the spot she occupied earlier, shards of ice dropped on her head when the elemental attack struck the ground. Cynder didn't see her enemies but she knew they were above her, the young female swiftly pulled herself up. Another itchy sting pulsed through her veins.

She made a somersault forward but was stopped in halfway, a powerful bolt of electricity flexed her every muscle making her drop flat on the ground. All she needed now was a hostile electric dragon to make her day better.

Damn.

Electricity is a bitch.

Another sting.

Cynder shook off the numbing feeling and was running way before her mind recorded it, however she wasn't fast enough. The sound of cracking ice could be heard, something solid and rocky destroyed something cold and fragile, two dragons of two different elements combined their skills for this attack and she was the unfortunate victim of it.

The dragoness cried out in agony when an icy painful magical gale wafted across her body, it was like her every nerve died after the freezing touch of air. And it wasn't over. Some really sharp spikes made of ice followed the cold mist, some of them got stuck in her left flank and wing, one pierced her back leg, right in the knee making the dragoness fight for balance as her wounded leg gave up under her weight.

For a moment there she was glad that it was the other leg that took the beating and not the wounded one from earlier. The natural regeneration process has kicked in, but with so many wounds covering her body it was unable to heal her previously wounded paw properly. If it would get hit again, she doubted that she could stand and that would mean the end of her. The quick moment of glee however ended just as fast as it started, effectively silenced by the red flashes of ache.

This wasn't an ordinary stabbing pain, somehow the cool wind empowered the icy shards, she felt them pulsing inside her body, filling her hot draconic blood with a writhing cold chill.

The pain was unbearable. With all the remaining strength she held back a scream of anguish. The only thing that came out of her throat was a muffled groan of pain. She just didn't want to draw attention to herself, not when Spyro was so close, he would hear her and then a bloodbath would begin.

However her warrior's spirit was boiling with almost unquenchable rage, not able to understand how she allows herself to be beaten up like some blind mole. In those moments Cynder wanted to raise her head and let them taste her Siren Scream. She would let out such a shriek that they would think take their own tails for hungry monsters.

Yet instead of her head she raised her gaze. Her friend was there, his purple form jumping from one golem to the other. One look at Spyro was enough to silence the wrath eating her up.

She once again reminded herself that her scream would draw his attention and that would mean the death of the dragons that are attacking her. She can't let that happen.

Who is she trying to fool?

She's not doing it for them. She's doing it for Spyro, fighting so desperately to spare him the fate she endures. Yet there is another reason, which she is ashamed to admit. That she is doing it for her own selfish peace of mind, the guilt is like a cancer draining the life out of her and to purge it out, she needs to suffer, to eventually reach the cure called redemption.

As she soon discovered her attackers seemed to share the same nudge to stay inconspicuous. The ground around her began to spit out dust as four dragons began their descent towards her. She quickly looked behind her shoulder and breathed a shadow fire straight at the icy spike protruding from her back leg. The dark somewhat burning energy was enough to melt the projectile in a moment's notice. Feeling the gusts of wind becoming stronger Cynder swiftly rose up using only her three almost healthy legs and jumped forward, not wanting to provoke the drakes to try another elemental attacks by transporting herself by the shadows.

She was lucky that she pushed herself up when she did, one of the attackers, that who wielded Earth touched the ground firmly, her fully grown paws made deep indentations in the earth, exactly where the black dragoness was only moments ago, with an obvious intention to intemperately land on her.

Not wanting to go through this again Cynder decided to escape from her stalkers. However she only managed to make two steps forward before another drake, this time an adult Ice breather landed in front of her eyes, blocking her way. Without wasting time she turned right and renewed her sprint, but just like before luck wasn't on her side. A young electric dragon dropped from the sky right in front of her.

Cynder momentarily skidded to a halt and swiftly spun around, running in the direction of the last possible escape route. As it turned out even that direction wasn't lucky for her, an ice dragoness about her age made sure of that. She bent on her paws while making cautious steps backwards, always making sure that her tail never stops its slow dance and her alert emerald eyes keep track of every attacker.

The dragons surrounded her, trapping her inside a draconic circle while slowly thinning the space between her and their paws with each step they made. Their eyes were constantly following her every move, she saw the cocky smiles, she saw the triumphant and mocking glimmer in their eyes. Cynder wasn't afraid, she didn't even blame them for attacking her, the only thing that angered her was their poor timing.

" Get out of my way!" Cynder growled, her challenging gaze constantly shifting from one dragon to the other. Nothing else filled her with such ire like assholes keeping her away from her best friend.

An amused chuckle from the earth dragoness is all she got, she recognized the female, it was the dragoness who tried to choke her with her tail before all of this happened. The black female impulsively gulped.

" Your Savior is out there fighting alone against five of those things! He's protecting you and you repay him like this!?"

One of the dragons who was blocking her way to Spyro threw a glance behind his shoulder" It looks like he doesn't need our help"

The delicate shift of the drake's body was enough for Cynder to get a glimpse of the situation. Two of the golems attacking Spyro were already nothing more than rubble, and he was currently finishing the third one. The sight of his bleeding body squeezed her stomach, she just couldn't stand and watch. Her legs automatically pushed her forward.

And then the Ice dragon blocked her way completely and snarled threateningly at the approaching dragoness.

Cynder impulsively stopped, but not because she was intimidated but because the loss of Spyro from her sight silenced the subconscious voice in her head that commanded her to reach her friend. She had other worries right now, and they angered her greatly.

" I've said get out of my way"

" You're staying here with us. We'll take care of you" the young ice dragoness commented

Her ambiguous words forced some mocking chuckles out of the rest of the dragons.

The black dragoness gritted her teeth, some really foul words were bursting on her lips but she held her vengeful tongue back and acceded for a quiet sigh.

" Listen, I know you have all the right to kill me, but i ask you to reconsider just this once. There are people there that need your help, Spyro is out there and he needs my help. So let's just-"

" You're not fooling us" the ice male snorted disdainfully

" You corrupted Spyro!" one of the females exclaimed indignantly, Cynder didn't care which " He attacks those golems like some rabid dog! He doesn't think clearly with you around!"

" Words from Munitions Forge reached us. We know what happened there, what your presence cost Spyro. Same thing is happening here and we won't allow this continue"

Munitions Forge.

Her heart stopped for a moment. That name was like a passcode that opened a door inside her mind that she desperately tried to keep closed.

Those two words pushed her down the memory lane. Through the eyes of her imagination she once again saw Spyro taking a crossbow bolt to the chest that was destined for her. In another flash she was once again in a dark room where only a single candle was burning, located on a desk at which the manwersmall's leader was seated.

She remembered her words, she remembered herself saying that she won't allow Spyro to get hurt because of her ever again.

Cynder's mind shifted back to reality, her eyes automatically turned towards the direction where her friend was. A dragon was still blocking her sight, but somehow her eyes pictured Spyro flying over there somewhere. His whole body was covered in wounds, she felt the bitter taste of his blood on her tongue.

She didn't keep her promise, she failed her best friend. This time however she didn't force him to spill only his blood for her, but also sacrifice his soul.

" That's not true" Cynder muttered, but even she recognized the defeat in her voice

" You bring only pain to those around you" The blind manweersmall once more appeared before her.

She was once again inside the same dark room.

" You are torn between love and reason"

The room became darker than ever.

She hectically shook her head " No..." the dragoness mumbled

" You kill everything that's good Lightbane" Mole-Yair continued

" Stop" Cynder hissed with a wavering voice

" This is no place for you" a second Mole-Yair commented from behind her

" You will leave Spyro alone" another apparition of the manwersmall continued the speech, this time he appeared on the left

" We will free him from your spell" fourth Mole- Yair added, the one on the right

" Shut up" Cynder let out a desperate growl, the blind mole's constant yatter was driving her mad

" You are a curse for this land" the mole at the desk in front of her spoke

" You destroy everything you touch" it was the voice of the one on the left

" But you won't fool me girl, even if I can feel that you changed, deep down you remained the same. Only someone who experienced your cruelty first hand will recognize that Shadow has a way of concealing herself"

" Perhaps darkness is fallowing you like you Shadow were once following us. If you care for the people you are with, you will go your own way"

Tears of wrath filled Cynder's eyes.

" You taint Spyro with your evilness" Mole-Yair from behind added

" If you didn't charm him he wouldn't know of your existence" said the one of the right

" SHUT UP!" the black dragoness roared at the top of her lungs, incapable of baring the mole's words any longer. With shimmering eyes with pure mad fury she threw herself at the mole that spoke last, wanting to silence his poisonous mouth once and for all.

He has no right to tell her what to do!

The mole was caught unaware, before he realized what is happening he was already on the ground with the black dragoness on top of him. Cynder sliced her claws across the male's snout, he cried out in pain while blood gushed in the air.

Her head dropped down, the dragoness opened her mouth and closed her maw on the rodent's shoulder. Blood filled her mouth when her sharp teeth pierced the flesh. It had a strange taste to it.

She didn't care.

" GET HER OFF!" the blind mole cried out in anguish, his voice was somewhat different

She didn't care.

Cynder pushed her head up fiercely, her closed teeth dragged quite a hefty chunk of flesh with them. The mole's cry only intensified when blood started to pour from the freshly wound in streams like from a fountain. She felt the other apparitions approaching, she felt as one of them was already trying his luck.

She pressed her belly to Mole-Yair's torso, she wasn't fast enough. Cynder roared when tips of claws cut her back, for a blind mole he had quite the aim. She roared again after the strike and in fury thrust her every claw into the chest of the male below her. The rodent screamed once more when the female's claws sank deep into his body.

Using the mole's surprise , loss of control of his body and her formidable grip on him, Cynder yanked her body forcefully to the side. The almost limp body of the male wasn't that heavy, she easily rolled on the ground, pushing the bleeding Mole-Yair on top of her.

She wanted to hear him scream, when he will be struck by the one so similar to him. She wanted to give him the taste of her fate, when dragons similar to her have no mercy. She will make the mole taste his own poison.

And then there was that one abhorrent sound of someone choking on their own blood. Cynder's eyes widened when suddenly blood gushed from Mole-Yair's mouth with one rasping cough, every bit of that crimson spit landed on her snout. To protect her pupils she had to close her eyes.

When she finally opened them, there was completely someone else on top of her.

It was the young electric dragon. His eyes practically shot out of their orbits and there was still blood shooting out from his gurgling mouth. Cynder had to squint but she just couldn't stop looking at the rasping dragon, her conscience demanded that she witnesses every last bit of color fading from his eyes.

She felt more of this reddish liquid dropping on her belly, she looked and found the reason behind all of this. A huge bony blade attached to a greenish tail in the form of a scythe was stuck in the dragon's right flank, it went so deep that it almost reached his spine. Cynder felt some very strong tugs, the drake's body was being pulled sharply, the owner of this green tail desperately tried to pull his or hers tip out.

After some more tugs the tail was free.

When that happened Cynder let out a horrified yelp, the dragon's head went down, hanging limply in the air with a reddish saliva dangling from his mouth like a spider on its freshly knotted web. But this wasn't the thing that horrified her, it was the blood flowing down from the fresh mortal wound, it kept flowing in streams, like from an unending bloody waterfall and every bit of it landed on her magenta chest and underbelly. Eventually even some intestines pushed out from the hole in the dragon's body.

The first dream from her past flashed before her eyes, in which entrails similar to this filled her mouth and went down her throat.

Cynder gagged, she felt like she was about to throw up, with a horrified squeal she bent her paws and pushed them up soon after with all the strength she had while maneuvering with her claws so they would let go of the disgusting corpse. The lifeless corpse of the drake was thrown aside, with no respect like it was nothing more than thrash. The corpse landed on it back, its head tilted to the side, the dragon's frozen eyes were wide, staring at her accusingly with their cold gaze. The gaping hole on the drake's flank still poured out blood.

The black dragoness thrashed with her paws chaotically, eventually pushing herself up. She was panting heavily, her legs were shaking underneath her, as if they didn't have the strength to hold her steady any longer. She felt sick, her whole body and snout was sticky with the dragon's still fresh, thick blood. To make things worse she couldn't stop staring at the accusing dead gaze of the young male.

" What have I done?" Cynder muttered under hear breath, her voice nothing more than a whisper that even she had troubles hearing

Impulsively she raised her gaze, the three remaining attackers were just as shaken as her. As if feeling her gaze on them all the dragons met her gaze. It was then when she noticed their eyes flaring up with murderous wrath, and to empower that rage the dragons let out roars so fierce that they were capable of demolishing buildings.

Cynder realized that if she didn't have enemies in all dragons before, she certainly had now.