FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 16

The earth dragoness roared, flexed her muscles and instantly sent a swirling leafy bomb at the dark creature, without giving the dead even the tiniest deserved respect. As a natural, the female could unleash some more advanced versions of many attacks related with Earth, like the leaf bomb for example.

When the greenish projectile exploded it not only turned into a tornado that sucked practically every corpse but also sprouted rocky tendrils that when the victims of the attack were eventually thrown at the ground made sure that they won't be getting up. Not to mention the damage those unformed arms caused to everyone who wasn't caught in the tornado, or the surrounding area overall.

The howling tornado killed every other sound in the room, if that wouldn't be the case the dragoness would hear some really indignant, disgusted and furious words from her Ice partner. The female didn't care really about anything else but the destruction of the dark creature. Whatever that thing was, she felt it was dangerous and the creature's terrifying white eyes only confirmed that suspicion. That thing was frightening, she just wanted to get rid of it, no matter the moral cost.

The tendrils wrapped themselves around the dark dragon when the twister smashed him into the floor. Yet even with such crushing pressure around the black being it still managed to stand up.

The Ice dragon who learnt that passivity is a mistake attacked the creature immediately, combining his magic with the elemental powers of his Earth companion. A huge freezing cloud came out of his mouth, turning the remaining tendrils that were too far away from the dark creature into ice in an instant.

The sounds of shattering ice followed soon after, the once thick, rocky tendrils exploded sending shards of ice flying everywhere, many were heading towards the supposedly trapped black dragon.

Supposedly.

What occurred next was beyond the dragons understanding.

The completely still bodies rose to perfect vertical positions, like they were nothing more than effigies on strings manipulated by an invisible puppeteer in one of the most bloody scenes of today's spectacle. In a blink of an eye five or six of the most massive corpses surrounded the black drake, bilious squishing sounds followed soon after when the icy spikes instead of piercing the black creature impaled themselves in the corpses one by one.

They were shredded momentarily and even before the two dragons closed their gaping with shock maws the spiked corpses were sent flying at them with such hauteur like rocks being thrown by playing children.

The dragons just stood there, never before seeing something like this, even if they wanted to run it would change nothing. It was already too late and as they found out later, it was the least of their worries.

The female was the first one who was roughly waken up from shock. The ice spikes protruding from the bodies were so huge that when three of the corpses struck her, the dragonesses paws bent under the surge of pain that came after. The bodies slammed into the female's body, the impact was so strong that it sent them spinning as they dropped right next to the Earth wielder. The tearing of scales and loud noises of snapping ice mixed themselves with the dragonesses scream of anguish. The icy huge spikes shattered, almost half of their size got impaled in the dragonesses body while the other ends remained stuck in the scattered bodies, icy mists were dancing from the cracked tops like fire from a candle.

The male however had enough time to dodge the incoming shredded corpses, the moment he was safe from harm he channeled once again his elemental energy and sent one ice shard after the other at the black dragon. However the ice dragon didn't take into account the waning strength of his Earth companion, it was that dwindling vigor that weakened the rocky unformed arm that held the creature in a tight grip.

The thick stony tendril exploded, the black drake broke free and momentarily was out of the way of the flying shards, he dashed so fast, that the ice dragon had troubles recording where he moved, only a trail of dark smoke was left behind, the shards penetrated the misty veil one by one. They shattered so loudly on the ground that it seemed like they were trying to tell the drake that he is no match for this enemy.

A cold chill of terror ran through his body.

The feeling only intensified when he heard his female companion roaring in her death-throes. His head impulsively turned in the direction from which the horrific noise was coming from.

Strangely the dragon heard two words echoing inside his head at the sight, spoken with a blood freezing low tone.

Finish her.

The black dragon was already near her, his horns were impaled in her chest and he was pushing with his hind legs and wings while jerking his head up. For a creature no bigger than a young dragon he had immense strength, the fully grown female was being lifted from the ground in a crosswise manner, the moment she was reaching a perfect vertical position the dark creature pushed fiercely with all his might.

The dragoness toppled like a trunk of a cut tree and landed forcefully on her back while letting another roar of agony when the black dragon's horns shook within her flesh at the impact. In a blink of an eye the shadowy creature withdrew its horns, dragging two long trails of blood behind them.

What happened next lasted maybe ten seconds.

After he was free the black dragon made a swipe with one of his forepaws, the slash was so quick that it was impossible to see his paw moving, the only thing that somehow betrayed what he was doing was the trail of smoke left behind.

The screams of the dragoness were silenced the moment a huge bloody chunk of her throat splatted on the cracked marble floor. The female's eyes shot wide open, the only sound that was coming out of her mouth were some rasping gurgles, each of them pumped more and more blood out of the lurid hole in her neck.

The dragon instead of ending the dragonesses torture moved towards her chest. The black creature began to slash at it, tearing quite considerable pieces of scales and flesh with each strike. Blood was everywhere and the barely alive dragoness could only see her flying gory remains.

The black drake eventually made quite a sizeable hole in the female's chest, he then sipped his paw inside and hooked his claws at the edges of the torn flesh. Then as if putting all of his strength he began to pull, the skin of the dragoness broke with a sound similar to that of bursting seams. The pull enlarged the bloody entrance, with two pieces of flesh jutting upwards at both its sides, revealing every possible organ, muscle and bone that can be found below the skin on practically every animal's chest.

The black drake withdrew his claws from the torn strands of flesh and pushed his head inside the bleeding hole. There was a sound of snapping bones and then the dragonesses gurgles turned into a hollow, dying gasp. The creature withdrew his head, small bones that once formed a rib cage were protruding from the corner of its mouth, blood was trickling down his maw, a maw that held a draconic heart in between its displayed sharp teeth, like the dark being wanted the wide-eyed female to remember that one peculiar beastly, fiendish grin.

The heart thudded weakly in between the creature's dagger-like teeth.

And then the natural draconic spikes went down sharply.

The heart burst in the shadow creature's mouth, popping like a crushed melon, spitting blood everywhere in huge streams. As the dragoness was letting out her final breath, the black drake made sure she remembers her last moments by spewing the flattened excuse of a heart straight inside the dragonesses opened mouth.

The Ice dragon flinched at the sight of this gruesome fate. Another aberrant word echoed inside his skull, spoken by the same odd voice.

Fatality.

The black dragon shifted his attention at the ice dragon, fixing his somewhat glowing and soulless white eyes on the drake. The male flinched once more, it wasn't an ordinary tremor, one that warms up the muscles, preparing them for a fight. This tremor was like a post-mortem spasm. Deep down the male knew that he just looked into the white, cold eyes of his executioner. He realized gloomily that he isn't getting out of this alive.

The black dragon lunged at him, at first every muscle in the male's body was paralyzed with terror, but as soon as the dark creature got close a jolt of electricity shot through his whole body, his brain wakening up every limb for this very last struggle for survival.

The male made a chaotic slash with his front paw while letting out a wavering roar, the dark creature however moved way too fast for the desperate strike to have any effect. The shadow dragon slipped underneath the flying paw and as he reached the dragon's belly he jumped in the air, spun and thrust his tip into the drake's scales.

The male's roaring ended with his eyes shooting open and a dying whizz coming out from his throat. His head impulsively went down, with his mouth wide open and eyes almost out of their orbits he looked down. Just where his chest connected with the underbelly he noticed a delicate red line, second after second it was getting wider, more and more blood was dripping from the wound.

The drake was so preoccupied with the sight of his body sliding apart bit by bit that he didn't feel the dark creature clawing, literally, its way up his waist. The black dragon moved across the male's back towards his head, every step was made with deep thrusts into the bluish scales for maintaining balance and because the creature didn't want it to go any other way.

The Ice drake didn't even feel the creature approaching, his practically glassy eyes were locked on the constantly growing slit on the lower side of his body. Unending and constant quiet moan was coming out from the dragon's gaping maw, a bit of drool was hanging from the corner of his mouth, his jaw acted like it was hypnotized by the continuously flowing blood, streams of which intensified together with the growing slit running across the middle of his whole lower body.

The frozen male who's spirit practically left this husk didn't feel the black dragon reaching the top of his head, his body seemed to be fueled only by the fading, prolonged moan coming out of his throat, he was like a candle which's flame was dancing in the constantly increasing waves of the wind.

It was a blessing actually, the male was spared the agony of feeling his eyes being pierced by the dark dragon's claws, he was spared the sensation of gore gushing from the now empty sockets when his eyeballs popped like balloons. He was spared the feeling of the black creature's claws being thrust into his head, he was spared the sensation of the same being sliding from the top of his head, down his jaw, neck and chest until it reached the previously started bloody line. Especially he was spared the feeling of his body splitting in half, his skin dropping flat on the marble floor, his insides splaying on the ground in a disgusting sanguinary mess.

The drake dropped onto the ground, not even paying any attention to the gutted dragon looking like a mascot torn apart, he only saw the tongues of shadow dancing from his crimson claws, like flames from a welding torch.

And then the wave of terror once more wafted across the ruined room as the black creature turned around, the invisible but extremely strong hands of horror gripped one particular malachite dragon when the dark drake's white eyes found their next prey.

*

Cynder from her very tight position couldn't see at what exactly Capro is looking, however the huge bulge running down his throat gave her a pretty good idea who, or what, scares him so much. Despite the boiling hatred for the green drake, especially after everything he's done she still pitied the poor, blinded fool, knowing exactly what gruesome fate awaits him.

" Start running you idiot!" she grumbled, the forced shout pushed her into another spasms of uncontrollable rough coughing

Capro shivered, her voice obviously dragged him back to reality, it was hard to tell if it was because he just heard a yell that isn't related with anyone mortally wounded and realized how much life is worth, or her shout reminded him of his objective, of what he came here to do.

Knowing her luck it was the second option.

The shadows ahead flickered, the dark being was on the move. Seeing this Capro instantly pulled his head up and coughed up a greenish ball, similar to the one that Spyro spins on a chain, yet this one had no chain, it was just a big, round spiked ball. Under which the greenish dragon slipped his paw and tossed it up, just to slap it with the flat end of his tail-tip seconds later.

The spiked ball was sent flying towards the ceiling, the moment it hit the cracked structure above it exploded with a deafening, rumbling thud. The whole building shook after the fulmination, cracks like spider-webs began to appear all around the ceiling, starting from the place where the ball collided with the stone. It was like a small earthquake was triggered above, and it spread very quickly, leaving devastation in its wake.

After some more really uncountable seconds the stone above had enough, the already weakened fundaments of the ceiling couldn't withstand the pressure of the artificial earthquake. Huge pieces of stone began to fall down with rumbling noises, parts of the ceiling around the spot of collision fell down completely. It was like an avalanche coming down from an invisible mountain, but instead of a wall of snow there were large, rough slabs of rock coming down.

They hit the floor almost immediately, the impact with the ground sent kicked choking amounts of dust in the air. Capro heard the black drake growling, he looked down and saw him running faster at him through the brownish mist, even as the rocks kept piling up quickly the shadow being didn't stop.

Yet the dark drake wasn't fast enough.

Capro saw the black dragon skidding to a halt through the rain of rocks, moments later with the final rumbling crash the last of the stones fell down, forming a huge impassable wall of rubble that cut the malachite drake and the wounded black female from the rest of the room.

A furious roar came from behind the wall, once more the dark creature used its telekinetic powers. The surrounding rocks that didn't belong to the freshly created rubble hovered in the air, even stones that formed the rocky wall were pulled from the ground, but the debris was huge, it was just impossible to lift all of those stones to create a passage, even for a such powerful creature like the black dragon.

Then came another roar, but this time it belonged to one of the golems. One of those things just entered the room, its heavy steps rattled against the cracked marble floor, sending tremors across the whole room. Seconds later more of the same roars echoed in the crumbled hall and even more mighty strides joined the first one.

The golems poured into the room on the other side of the rocky wall, some already lured by the dragons explosive entrance earlier, other driven here by the sounds of battle. Then another roar joined the other rumbling blares, this one belonging to a livid creature from the deepest parts of the Dark Realms. It was a roar full of anger and pain that froze the blood in Capro's veins.

The malachite dragon jumped when suddenly many rumbling thuds echoed all around him. He let out a wavering breath when he realized that the horrible sounds were created by the stones hitting the ground, the dark creature obviously didn't have the time to keep them floating with all those golems invading the hall.

Sounds of battle rumbled from behind the debris, the noise was so loud that it was impossible to hear own thoughts. However this noise calmed Capro, for him the sound of battle was just as normal as the noise of breaking stone for a stonemason. Normality. At last he can be himself again, only one purpose in mind, without frightening shadowy abominations trying to ruin everything.

The only thing he needs now is some true peace of mind, and only the agonizing screams of that black bitch can provide that. Even before he started turning towards the trapped female he already channeled his Earth powers. A rough and sharp earth missile was released in the direction where one of the female's black wings laid in the open, not hidden behind some rocks like her whole body was.

There was a sound of crashing stone, a malicious and victorious smile wrinkled the corner of Capro's mouth, for a moment his eyes closed blissfully, waiting for that sole feminine scream that would cheer his recently frightened heart up.

However no such shriek could be heard.

The malachite drake's eyes snapped open, he let out a gasp of shock when he noticed that only the remains of his magical missile dotted the spot ahead, the girl was nowhere to be seen. She slipped away, that creepy thing had to lift the rocks that were keeping her in place!

" Lost something?"

Capro growled, his eyes narrowed furiously at the sound of the arrogant feminine voice, momentarily he channeled his Earth element and swiped with his tail, not really paying attention where she is currently standing, his attack only driven by the direction from which her voice came. A greenish surge of energy in the form of a scythe shot from his tip. The magical attack cut through the columns like knife through butter, those rocks that weren't part of any construction were sent flying like rocky cannonballs.

The rumbling thuds and explosion deafened even his own wrathful roar.

" Careful or you might make a hole"

The malachite drake roared and turned towards the direction from which the sound came.

There she was standing, with one of her crippled paws risen in the air.

Mocking him.

The bitch!

" And that thing will come after you. You don't want that or you might shit yourself. Again" Cynder offered the dragon a blood covered, teasing, toothy grin

The malachite drake roared angrily and widely opened his mouth, this slut won't be telling him what to do! A greenish ball of energy formed inside his throat.

And then he hissed painfully.

Capro jumped to the side, a sharp bolt of pain ran through the back of his wing. As he turned to examine the wound a purple beam cut through the air in front of his eyes, the glow was so fierce that he had to squint his eyes. The magical energy flew across the whole room until it hit the wall on the other side of the room, near the stairs. There was a hiss when the purple laser collided with the wall and evaporated into a black mist, leaving a tiny hole in the structure.

A drop of something thick and wet fell down on his paw, then another and another, the drake impulsively looked down.

Blood.

His own.

Another drop from above.

Capro's eyes instantly went up, he pulled his aching wing in front of his eyes. If there would be anyone on the other end of it he would see the dragon's grey eye watching him through the bloody hole the size of the drake's eyeball, that pierced the dragon's wing thumb inside out. The malachite drake observed the wound, he watched as another droplet of reddish liquid was forming itself on the edges of the injury before falling down once more. He couldn't believe his eyes, it was like something pierced his wing with a sizzling pike.

Still watching the world through the specific monocle the dragon turned impulsively towards the rubble. Another purple flash blinded him and there was that rumbling crashing noise as if something huge just split apart and collapsed. He lowered his wing and stared at the debris for a while, suddenly he could spot every crack dotting the rocky wall. He realized just how fragile this structure is, one reckless attack can open a path for creatures, specifically one, that would tear him to pieces.

His head fell down, his throat became sore, the unwelcomed fist of fear once more gripped his heart.

" Something's wrong?"

Capro winced, the sound of that arrogant yattering fueled the only thing that kept him going.

Hate.

And that brutal reminder, that anew discovered purpose was stronger than some paltry, stupid natural fear of death.

Capro growled and began making determined strides towards the wounded female.

" I only need my claws to finish you"

Cynder narrowed her eyes on the approaching enemy, all of her muscles were tense, ready to serve.

" You sure about this?"

She groaned with quenched exertion as she back-flipped away from the drake's slashing claws just to sink into the ground later on to avoid the earth dragon's sliding tail. The dragoness reappeared some meters behind her attacker.

" It won't be easy" she continued her speech " I still have some juice left in me"

" Not for long" Capro moved towards her again and just as previously his claws only cut through thin air

" See?" she said as she popped from the black spot on the ground some distance away from her enemy " Your sidekicks done a poor job of weakening me. You want a piece of these black scales? You gonna have to work for it yourself"

A cold shiver ran through her spine when her rump bumped into the rocky wall. She is playing with fire, or darkness to be precise. She held back a pant, not only she was afraid, but also tired, there is no chance she can keep this game up without a risk and being just right on the other side of the debris while Dark Spyro is practically behind her surely count as one. The dragon has to know in how much trouble he is when he decides to attack her here and maybe he won't notice that she is in even worse.

The malachite drake hesitated, his eyes impulsively scanned the debris again when from behind it came another crashing noise that stood out from the typical, battle related, unending, rumbling cacophony. Capro shook his head, no time for doubts.

Remember that.

No time for doubts.

He pressed forward, with each step calculating how many and what attacks to perform to hurt her while not drawing the attention of the black creature. He didn't really come up with any idea, deciding that planning was pointless, he just couldn't focus with all those thoughts circling inside his head, the dragon went for a straightforward approach remembering only to be careful. The rest? Let Fate decide.

The drake stopped in his tracks when many powerful explosions and roars, mainly draconic, rumbled outside the ruined room. The sound slipped through every possible rock and crack, thudding from wall to wall with the force of a powerful hammer. Both Capro and Cynder began to look around the place, there was so much ferocity in this display of blaring sounds. The noise rang all around the place, it was like they would be standing right below a huge bell.

Eventually their eyes found each other again.

Cynder shuffled her body against the rubble" So how about a rain check?"

Capro narrowed his gaze on her and continued his slow advance " Stop talking"

" Look, they need us out there. I get it, you hate me, I understand, you have all the right to be angry. Hell most of the time I hate myself, but there are moments when we need to forget about that. We both fought to save this world and this world is made of people, people who now need all the help they can get. You can always kill me tomorrow"

" I don't care about them"

The dragonesses eyes widened " Wow" she blurt out surprised " For someone who thinks he's doing the Ancestor's work for trying to murder me in cold blood you sure sound like the old me"

Capro growled, as he made another step his claws clicked on the floor so loudly that when he slid his paws back to prepare for another step, the floor screeched below. His claws leaving visible scratches on the cracked marble tiles.

" I'm nothing like you!"

The dragoness nodded at the rubble next to her " Tell that to those two back there"

The malachite dragon swiped with his tail, with a gasp Cynder ducked, the blade extension on the dragon's head cut above her head, slightly scratching the rocky surface behind. Some small stones dropped on her head.

" I haven't killed them! I didn't touch anybody who didn't deserve this from our striking force! Same thing can't be said about...what was his name...Arath right?"

Cynder swallowed.

" Not to say that the two you mentioned were slain by a creature very similar to you. You who so easily tries to put the blame on me" he snorted " You arrogant bitch, so desperately looking for an excuse. That thing back there is your doing, I don't know how you created it but the similarity cannot be a coincidence. It's as dark as you pretend not to be"

The dragoness blinked, she tried to put her wounded paw to her chest, but couldn't do it. There was that stinging itching inside, like her own heart was bleeding, beating with a pace that seemed to be in some kind of code, as if tried to say something to her. She knew what it was.

That idiot is right.

Dark Spyro and all the deaths he caused and will cause soon are on her. If she would resist the corruption somehow, if she would beat it into submission, all of this wouldn't have happened. Spyro would never touch Malefor's dark essence which now resides within him like a parasite. She would never put on harm's way everyone she cares about, they would never have to risk their lives, reputation, to clean the mess she makes with every step. Everything could be averted, EVERYTHING, if she just...

No.

She won't give him the satisfaction. Whatever shit she caused, she will deal with it later and if the guilt will swallow her one day then so be it, but she won't let herself be manipulated.

Cynder straightened up confidently " You want to be the people's knight in shiny armor? Then bring it on, strike down the evil bad dragon. Stop talking and do your job!"

Capro chuckled disdainfully " My intentions are only my own, I'm trying to be merciful here, doesn't all this guilt tire you? How many more have to die for you to finally realize that you are made from darkness, and whenever darkness walks it kills all that lives and thrives. Don't you want this decadence to end?"

" I'm not that far gone to be suicidal, thanks for the offer but-"

Her voice died completely when suddenly the wall behind her exploded, shooting her and all nearby stones like from a slingshot. Then her vision became red, she screamed in agony when suddenly rows of daggers pierced her belly and back simultaneously, making rough holes along the whole length of her body. Only her head and rump with the tail dangled away from the sharp spikes, at first she didn't comprehend what was happening, why those daggers are covered with some kind of slick substance.

When her vision finally cleared enough she noticed the powerful legs of the malachite dragon below and everything became clear.

Deep down she laughed, now this is some bad luck. Those daggers were nothing more than draconic teeth, that substance was nothing more than saliva and she wasn't held by some sort of a trap but she was currently in between Capro's teeth. With his teeth sinking deeper and deeper into her body, as if he was savoring the taste of her blood and flesh while also trying not to surrender to that hunger. One snap of the dragon's teeth and it will be all over and she just couldn't stop thinking just how stupid this will be. But then again she went to that wall on her own, she willingly took the risk, she provoked him on purpose, it's only appropriate that he will end her life. She had it coming.

And to her surprise there was that peculiar hawk and she was sent flying through the air and straight into the piles of stones ahead. The pain after the collision with the rough rocks was dulled by the shock that she is alive. She could see her own blood flowing down the stones as she rolled deeper and deeper into their rocky embrace with only one thought bouncing inside her head.

The dragon spitted her out.

She lifted herself up, Cynder noticed his bloody maw, his tongue was sliding along his mouth getting rid of her blood that covered his snout.

" Why?" she rasped weakly, she couldn't think of anything else.

Capro curled his tongue and spitted a reddish ball onto the ground, mix of his saliva and her blood.

" You don't deserve mercy. By simply killing you I would grant you just that. I realized I was too hasty, the disgusting taste of your blood opened my eyes"

" I don't understand"

" Don't you remember me Lightbane?"

She narrowed her eyes on him.

The malachite drake looked straight in her eyes " I'm giving you two months, if you will be a good boy I'll let you live and I will even leave your mother alone"

Cynder's eyes widened.

*

A pewter dragoness and an adolescent green dragon with small bladelike plates on his chin hesitatingly stepped out from the crowd...

...When she noticed a shadow on the ground the female lifted her head and looked at the black dragoness in front of her with watery eyes. " Lightbane" she sobbed

Cynder froze in place while her eyes shot wide open, soon she began to nod her head " I can't believe I will say this but we have a winner!" she exclaimed and pointed a claw at the young dragon " Kid you should be proud of your mother"

He ignored her, his mother took all of his concentration, he started to approach her, to hug her and somehow ease her suffering.

She blocked his path with her tail " No time for cuddling, you have a job to do. You will spread that name in every place you visit, I want people to know about it. I'm giving you two months, if you will be a good boy I'll let you live and I will even leave your mother alone. If after two months I won't hear my new nickname, then...well you know what's going to happen. As you see time is of the essence so of you go!"

The young dragon stared at his mother, he would most likely ignore her order if not for a single nod from the pewter dragoness. He sobbed and after a while turned around and started to fly away.

She stared at the disappearing shape of the young dragon in the distance " Lightbane" she huffed and swung her tail, not paying any attention to the sound of cracking bones behind her.

" Lightbane" she repeated the word in a full of awe voice and swung her tail again

" I like it" she stated with full satisfaction, completely ignoring the pewter female head rolling down from the elevation.

*

Cynder swallowed " You"

" I've spent countless days on spreading your name, sowing fear and hate into hearts of the people. Some of them shunned me away, some let out their anger on me. Days passed and the news of Lightbane traveled faster than me, and I still kept going, eventually people started to hate me more than you. They didn't understand how can someone be so easily manipulated, they didn't want to understand that I was doing it for my mother, they didn't understand that I would do anything for her, even the Devil's dirty work"

" Eventually you and your army reached the places I visited, turning them to ashes. The news of the destructions spread like a fire, after that I was thrown out of every town and village I've encountered on my way, fingers of blame pointing at me wherever I turned my head. You ruin morale they said, you're her spy they said, it's all because of you they said"

" Maybe after a month practically everyone turned against me, there were some that wanted to help me but they were lynched by the angry mob so one day I've just stopped seeking friends, knowing how they will suffer because of me. I've spent days and nights scraping for food, mostly not finding anything. Weeks of starvation made me weak and I was a weak child to begin with, my mother always tried to keep my away from danger and the fighting. Her motherly protection turned me into an even weaker hunter, when every new day was a horror for me I knew I did my job and it was time to go back"

" And when I did come back you know what I've found? My mother's headless body strapped to a pole, crows eating away what remained of her flesh, only two words carved in her scales that were still legible reading ' Thanks kid'. Her severed head was chained to the pole at the ground, mostly devoured by worms. I screamed myself hoarse back then, and when I recovered my voice I did the same again and again until no more tears could flow from my eyes"

Another crashing sound echoed throughout the room as another one of the golems the black dragon was fighting with was destroyed. Both Capro and Cynder were unmoved by it.

" I buried her" the malachite dragon continued " I swore revenge, I swore that when I become strong enough you will meet the same fate"

Cynder closed her eyes, two tears slid from the corner of her eyes and down her cheeks " Then do it" she muttered devastated

" I want your head like nothing else in the world but taking it without you seeing how your friends suffer and people treating you like thrash isn't worth the effort. I will see you break and one day you will come to me, begging to end your suffering with one swipe of my tail"

" When people want to punish their mortal enemies by torturing them with the horrors of their lives it usually ends bad for them. They never get a second chance like you have now"

Capro shrugged " Perhaps, I might never get another opportunity to kill you but I will definitely see your world toppling around you. And when the time comes for Fate to turn against me, I'll die knowing that you suffered the same or worse horrors than me. My sworn vengeance won't be fulfilled completely but I doubt I will care then, I will see my mother after all"

After he dragon finished his monologue a otherworldly roar came from the direction of the now ruined rocky barricade. Capro spotted the dark creature reappearing through the dust, it's white eyes glimmering with no emotion as they aimed themselves at him. The malachite wasn't afraid, after he realized that there is no reason for haste everything became simple again.

He picked up a quite sizeable rock from the ground while constantly observing the approaching dark being. A smile found its way to the corner of his lips as he hurled the stone at the sprawled black dragoness, she gasped for air as the rock landed on her back, kicking the breath out of her lungs.

" Your horror begins today" Capro roared and instantly took to the sky

The black creature chimed in with a roar of its own and dashed after the Earth dragon.

" Spyro!" Cynder tried to shout, but her voice turned into a barely audible whizz of her dying breath, the stone on top of her was pressing her chest to the rocks, preventing her lungs to get a proper inhale of air.

She thrashed wildly, wanting to throw the stone off of her but had no strength to do so, the faster she wanted to get rid of it the weaker she became. She could only observe as the black tail disappears through the hole in the ceiling. The dragoness sighed feebly and pressed her forehead to the rocks and closed her eyes, imagining that she is somewhere else and the roars that rumbled outside didn't belong to the future victims of Dark Spyro.

She begged for all of this to be just a dream.

" Cyn?"

Cynder gasped and her eyes shot wide open when she felt something poking her shoulder. Then she began to cough, deafening the horrified yelp of a yellow dragonfly.

Yellow dragonfly.

The dragoness quenched the painful coughing and cleared her vision with a couple of quick flutters of her eyelids. Yes, there was definitely a yellow dragonfly hovering in front of her.

" Sparx?" she barely whispered, her voice rough thanks to the quenched cough

" You want me to have a heart attack?!" the dragonfly exclaimed indignantly

The dragoness cleared her throat as best as she could" You're worried about me" she chuckled weakly " How sweet" and offered the dragonfly a poor effort of a smile

Sparx snorted " You wish. If you would answer me when I first called you I wouldn't have my life span shortened now. You really need to find a better place for a nap"

Her eyes widened " I drifted away? How long I've been like this?"

" Dunno, but you better get up quick, Dark Spyro is kicking asses out there"

Cynder instantly began to push up, not really caring about the agonizing bolts of pain shooting throughout her whole body as she even pressed her wounded leg to the rocks, opening up some of the more or less sealed up wounds all over again.

Groaning she pushed with all her power but the rock on her back just didn't want to budge, the dragoness smacked into the rocky ground when the effort depleted all of her strength. However she didn't rest, she pushed again and ended on the ground once more. She began to push again.

" Hey" Sparx shouted and pressed his hand onto her shoulder, her body dropped flat on the rocks and she began to pant heavily

" You're going to finish yourself off, rest for a while"

She began to pull again.

" Rest!" he exclaimed and pushed her body down, the strength of the dragonfly was enough to put the dragoness in place once more

" Rest, and when you're ready we're going to do it together ok?"

Cynder nodded in between pants.

" Whenever you're ready"

She panted for a while, recovering her already faded strength.

" Ok" she muttered and inhaled as best as she could

Both of them began to push, at first nothing was happening but the longer the dragoness was straining her body, the scaly surface of her body was too much for the rock. It began to move slightly, it was then when the two of them began to push even harder, their combined efforts proved to be successful, the stone slid of the dragonesses body and joined its friends among the rubble with a thud.

Cynder exhausted beyond imagination dropped on the stony ground and began to cough in relief, how good it felt to fully inhale air again.

Sparx smiled and pushed away from the dragonesses, his eyes widened when he could get a good look on Cynder's body with the stone gone. Her whole back was dotted with holes, blood was flowing from every each one of them, and this wasn't the end of it. The rocks underneath her belly were greasy with the same crimson liquid, it was like she was drowning in the pool of her own blood.

He was no longer smiling.

His hands suddenly became very sticky, he looked at his opened palms and his heart skipped a beat, his fingers were covered in the dragonesses reddish blood.

" You have to go"

Sparx dropped his hands, the shock still plastered on his face, due to which he was unable to hear what she said. Or moaned to be precise.

" What?"

Cynder coughed again " You have to go, I can't do it" her voice was a barely audible whisper, of a person who still didn't fully wake up from sleep, or is about to fall in one

The dragonfly threw his arms to the sides ' What are you talking about?!" he shouted " What can I do? Your needed out there!"

" I'm too weak to even move Sparx. I'll...just rest here for a while"

" Oh no you don't! Get up in an instant! Everyone who says something never wakes up again!"

Cynder smiled weakly " You're worried about me after all. Sweet"

" I'm not worried stupid!" the dragonfly yelled with fake anger " I just don't want the worms to be sick when they're going to eat you"

" Poor things"

" Yeah poor things! Now get up and leave the little guys in peace!

Cynder took a wavering breath " I can't Sparx, seriously. I've lost lots of blood...I'm barely conscious... you...need to...to..."

" if you die-"

" I'm not dying...I think...you need to...save the dragons"

" How?!" he exclaimed hysterically " Spyro is out there destroying everything!"

" I don't know...you'll think of something...save the dragons first...then bring Dark Spyro here"

" How is that going to help us?!"

" Someshhh...." the dragonesses whispering ended abruptly

" Cyn?" Sparx swallowed hard

" Cyn?" he dashes towards her

" Cynder?" he shook her slightly.

The dragoness didn't wake up.

Holding his breath he pressed his head to her battered body, almost at the brink of choking he awaited for her chest to move.

Eventually it did heave, barely, but it did.

Sparx let out a huge breath of relief and wiped the sweat from his forehead. He looked around the room and gathered anything that would help covering her. It was doubtful it would help with her blood all over the place but he couldn't think of anything better to do.

Eventually the dragonfly covered the female's body with whatever he could find, starting from small rocks, ending even in some tree branches.

He gave her the last saturnine glance before he looked up at the hole in the ceiling. Without any second thoughts the dragonfly pressed onwards, without a clue what to do next but knowing that this has gone too far.

Determination serving as his only guide.