FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 2

The ball bounced off the edge of a rough, dark stony wall, the impact sending it rolling around the nearby corner and down the steps of a relatively massive black staircase. A staircase that many armored feet escalated, jumping out of the way of the bouncing ball.

She shot from the nearby corner and into the main hall, the floor dark and smooth, still too slippery for her little legs, proving to be quite the challenge when speed dictates her moves. She lost balance at one point, instead of cutting the corner gracefully she dropped flat on her belly. The speed she accumulated threw her into a delicate spin, the ice like dark floor sent her sliding in the direction of the opposite wall.

"Hey! Watch out!" someone shouted, she wasn't really interested who, all she could see was a pair of leather greaves jumping out of the way

With an excited, playful growl she started moving her little paws, instead of getting a foothold her swinging legs kept constantly sliding away. As she was rising up she seemed to run in place, paddling even, at some point her tongue rolled out of her mouth

"Use your wings you black dot!" with an endearing chuckle someone gently smacked her rump

With a squeaky gasp she shot forward, cutting the air with a whizz after a fierce flap of her wings, almost like an arrow from a stretched to the limit bowstring.

People appeared from the staircase at the end of the hall, chatting and heading directly at her.

"Look out!" an ape exclaimed, pointing his metal cladded finger at the approaching black figure ahead who dashed through the middle of the corridor, straight at them

Laughing she put jerked her body to the side, her wings allowing her to press her paws at the vertical wall, using it as nothing more than tilted to the side floor. She ran across the wall, laughing happily, the soldiers with gasps and shouts glued themselves to the opposite side of the corridor. Her swinging blade tip once in a while bouncing off their armors.

"Come on girl!" an ape exclaimed joyfully, pointing down at the staircase "It bounced off somewhere down here. Get it!"

There was another metallic thud as another armor pressed itself towards the dark, cold wall.

"Damn dragons!" someone snarled "We should be killing these creatures not babysitting them!"

A metallic slap echoed through the corridor, a helm rolled down the stairs.

"Keep your mouth shut!"

"She's just a kid man"

She jumped off the wall, gliding down the staircase, making everyone on her way to drop down on the steps, some of the helms were too slow however. She felt her paws scratching some, and completely throwing off others.

A sound similar to that of a smacking hands against the stone was heard.

"Dammit!" a feminine voice hissed "My helmet! You're going to pick it up you overgrown rat!"

She felt furry fingers trying to grab her tail, but eventually sliding down her scales unsuccessfully.

"Damn people relax!" someone shouted from above "Don't you remember when you were young?"

"That doesn't mean she can do anything she wants!" a different voice protested, she was at the bottom of the stairs basically by then, so it was hard to tell if it was a male or a female voice trying to break through the commotion

Not that she really cared anyway.

The staircase ended, still unexperienced to take advantage of her flight ability to the fullest she collided with the wall ahead, smacking into it like a bird into a window. She fell down, slightly spinning in the air, wings unable to properly open as if they were tethered.

There was a thud when she hit the floor.

"Ouch" a guard hissed between giggles, holding a spear tightly in his hands as he guarded a door she never been through before

"But you have to give her credit, her landing seems to get better by the day" a second, female guard commented

Both of the apes looked into each other's eyes and both of them burst out laughing at the same time.

"She keeps doing this and we won't have to worry about hiring some poor soul to work his ass off engraving those walls"

Another dose of laughter filled the hall.

She got up on all fours, only barely noticing that the guards were talking about her, she heard many things about herself that she no longer knew what is true or not so she stopped caring about it completely.

Her entire focus was aimed at the ball ahead, it was idly lying in front of the laughing guards feet. She narrowed her eyes on the toy, bending her little legs, preparing herself for a frontal pounce.

The female ape's colorful eyes shifted in her direction, just to land on the ball soon after. She reached out and picked it up, turning her attention towards her.

Her pose relaxed, her green eyes widened as she stared at the feminine guard and the ball she held in her hand.

The other guard frowned "It's not nice to steal a toy from a child you know"

"Shhh. I'm not stealing anything" she replied, her gaze aimed at the little dragoness "You heard rumors about her didn't you? Being one of a kind and all that stuff?" she looked at the ball, only instinctively making a note of her companion's nod

"I'm curious if she has it in her. I know she can do things that no other dragon I met is capable of, but just like me you know the plan for her. A proof, 'tis all I want, I want to know that we have a chance you know? That we aren't wasting our time here. If she's so special she has to have it in her even in such a young age"

She twirled the ball around sadly "Do you blame me for wanting to find some hope in my life?"

His fingers curled themselves on the wooden pole of the spear as he looked at the ground, silently lost in contemplation.

"I guess not"

She crunched down, the tip of her sword dangling slightly on her belt, she extended her arm forward, holding the ball in between her fingers, eyes locked on the creature ahead.

"So what it will be Cyn?" the female ape asked, shaking the ball in her hand

Her emerald eyes sparkled, tail dashed from side to side.

"You have it in you or not?" she bounced the ball off the ground

Her little, shinning pupils followed each move of the toy.

"What about a little breeze, huh kid?" she gestured at the dark walls surrounding them "We are stuck here almost every day, barely able to see the sun let alone feel the wind, like in some damn coffin"

The other guard snickered "You're not that far off..."

The female ape winked at her friend before focusing on the dragoness ahead.

"So you see where this is going? This..." she pointed at the ball "...isn't running anywhere until I get something in return for it"

A delicate poison mist wafted from her nostrils as she snarled at the feminine guard.

The male whistled impressed "I think you made her angry"

The other ape rose her hand defensively "'Tis a fair trade I offer. A gust of wind strong enough to kick the ball out of my hand and you can have it back. So what do you say kid? Do we have a deal?"

Her emerald eyes kept observing the ball, tail no longer swinging so swiftly from side to side, one of her paws went up, one of the claws extended forward just to seconds later scratch her magenta neck. She remained maybe like that, thinking like for four- five seconds, when she was finally done and her paw returned on the floor she looked at the ape.

An arrogant smirk appeared on her snout while she dashed forward.

The feminine ape clenched her hand on the ball with a depressed sigh.

She opened her mouth, the ape girl didn't see it with her eyes closed and head aimed at the floor. Before she managed to recover the air was already coursing through her small black body, only a second or two after all that energy was released in a breath of Wind.

The feminine guard gasped and faltered on her crunched legs, the relatively strong gust of wind hit her directly in the hand, spreading her fingers open and sending the ball flying across the hall with a speed of a fired cannonball. The toy bounced from one wall to the other just to eventually shoot from one of the nearby triangular windows connecting this corridor with the main hall of the fortress.

The ape guard followed the ball with wide eyes, only when it shot through the window she looked down and offered the same look to the small dragoness standing in front of her.

She eyed the ape arrogantly for a moment before poking her tongue at the guard only to dash after the ball through the window moments later.

The other guard smiled "Feeling better?"

"Not really" she raised up

He furrowed his brows "Why not? Didn't you get what you want?"

"I did" she returned to her post, leaning against the wall with a sigh "I just only realized that by the time she will stand her ground we will all be dead by then"

"Only now? We all know what we signed up for"

"Yes I get that, but it still hit me now you know? How short our lives will be. I'm quite certain that she is the only baby dragon I will ever get to see"

He nodded "I understand. Our lives might be short but that doesn't mean we can't make the best of our time here"

"Yeah..." she sighed, closing her eyes

His finger tapped at the wooden handle of his spear "Tell you what, I'll stay here and you go find Cyn and play with her"

She looked at him with a frown "What?"

"Oh come on, I see how you look at her. I don't get it mind you, but you always seem to lighten up when she's around. Care to explain why?"

She shrugged "I don't know, maybe it's the realization that I will never have kids of my own and I treat her as my own? Besides I think that dragon hatchlings are kinda cute"

He laughed "You better not tell her that"

All she heard was the laughter of the guards she just left behind and the many footsteps of people ascending the main staircase below of the grand hall. They didn't see her flying above them, nor did she really pay much attention to the numbers of soldiers and the lot walking below.

All she was focused on was the ball that was currently cutting through the air practically at the speed of light.

It eventually bounced off the opposite wall, shaped exactly like the one behind her, barely missing the triangular opening.

The ball sped back right at her.

She stopped in midair straightening her body, raising her paws up, leveling her claws with her head. When the ball was finally close she threw her paws down, trying to catch it.

She failed.

The toy bounced off her chest and began to drop straight down. The force with which she swung her legs made her body to practically roll into a ball itself. With the strength she put into the swing she threw her body into a double airborne roll, twice her tail flashed in front of her eyes before she finally straightened up again, hectically looking for her target.

"By Malefor's purple scales!" someone shouted from below, stirring quite the commotion

"What on earth was that?!"

People began to jump around the stairs, occasionally bumping into and toppling each other, basically creating some sort of a little mayhem in accordance to the noise of all sorts of equipment hitting the stony steps and floor.

She looked down, with practiced eye scanning the jumping and shouting mob below, among the shaking crowd she spotted the one bouncing dot she so badly wanted to catch. Her green eyes narrowed on the target and without any second thoughts she dived down.

It wasn't long before she reached the crowd, shooting through the corridor their helmets provided atop their heads.

"It's a giant bat!" a woman screamed

It wouldn't be that interesting if not for the fact that after her squeaky shout the people around became more wild, especially the female part that had no military experience.

"Get it off me!"

She let out a short gasp when suddenly something smacked her in the side.

"Calm down! That's not a bat!"

"Kill it! Kill it!"

She dropped on the nearby step, armored and civilian legs flashed before her eyes one after the other in a chaotic, mind numbing manner.

"You're going to trample her!"

Something hit her directly in the nose. She shook her head with a groan just to realize that the object that hit her was nothing else than the ball she chased. Even among the flashing legs the toy rested still ahead of her.

She can be lucky after all.

"Sweet Malefor! It's over here!" another panicked feminine scream

"No!"

She started to raise but never managed to get up since out of nowhere she received a solid kick, which kicked the breath out of her little lungs and lifted her from the ground with a single spin.

"Stop! You'll hurt her!

Her unwanted acrobatic leap ended with a painful groan as she once more dropped on the stairs, her body sprawled across two steps, with most of her body occupying one step while a small part of her rump and whole tail lied on the second one.

And yet she was still concentrated on the ball, unconsciously knowing that she's been through worse.

After the kick people seemed to shout and struggle more lively than before, during this chaos she wasn't the only one who got kicked. Her eyes widened the moment the ball was sent flying, her energetic emerald orbs following the toy as it flew off the stairs and out of harm's way.

With newfound energy she pulled herself up and sprang after her target, on the way she bounced into someone making that person practically fall to the ground. Besides this little collision she slipped away from the chaos unscathed.

The ball rested near a column, the impact with the structure stopping it in its tracks. She had no problem reaching it and closing her maw on it with a victorious growl. With the ball in her mouth she looked behind her shoulder, with an arrogant snicker commenting the chaos behind.

Her tail began to sway happily, her eyes closed and head returned to its natural position, bouncing slightly from side to side as she started to walk, humming a happy tune under her breath.

She rounded the nearby corner, leaving all those exaggerating people behind, her head never stopping its special dance, teeth happily munching on the ball. All was well and as always everything went smoothly and without incident.

A loud thud echoed throughout the fortress, something heavy hit the floor in the main hall she just left behind.

Yessss.

Everything went smoothly and without incident.

And then suddenly her eyes shot wide open, something grabbed and pulled her tail, guessing from the gentle yet at the same time stern pressure she exactly who was yanking her tail.

It wasn't long before her little paws unglued themselves from the ground, she was being lifted by the tail. Her body began to hang upside down, she pressed her front legs to her mouth as she was rising and calmly munching on the ball. Her ascent ended the moment she found herself eye to eye with an ape face and the shimmering green jewel in one of his eye sockets.

"Causing trouble again aren't we?" his voice was thick and imposing just like the horned helmet on top of his head. Yet even despite the roughness a tone of softness broke through

She looked at him with her innocent big eyes, little paws fondling the ball in her mouth, teeth delicately working on the soft surface of the toy.

His face was filled by a thin line of a smile.

"I don't know why but this look you are giving me always makes me to forgive you no matter how serious the crime is" he leaned towards her "And I think you know that you little cute, smart thing"

Her expression didn't change, she was still innocent and clueless.

He chuckled, his perfectly trimmed colorful fur nicely floated on the windless air.

"You will be quite the troublemaker when you grow up my little Dreadwing"

He reached out and grabbed the ball in her mouth, gently trying to wrestle it out.

Her previously innocent eyes narrowed themselves on his hand fiercely, her little fangs showed up on the toy as she snarled at him.

"Oh yes you will" he kissed her nose

Her eyes widened once more.

"Hopefully the right target will be at the receiving end of it"

*

She opened her eyes, through the blurry vision a room was slowly revealing itself, clean, perfectly clean, sterile even. Rays of the slowly waking sun reached through the nearby window, its orange lances reaching across her nose, paws on which her chin rested and the surrounding light blue sheets of a bed she was currently occupying.

All of her other senses were also pulled from the fog of sleep. The first thing she felt was some kind of material, probably a bandage wrapped around her sore body. Speaking of sore, her every muscle seemed to grow a heart of its own, sending annoying pulses through her extremely sensitive nerves. Eventually her nose woke up, intoxicating itself on the smells floating through the air. Thanks to that she guessed that she was currently in the hospital and despite Amela's rules of leaving the patients to their peaceful rest she was certain that she isn't alone in this room.

All those things were important, but the numbing aftertaste after the recent dream she felt on her heart and soul seemed to overpower it all.

"Cynder!" an excited and full of relief shout filled the room. A smile appeared on her snout instantly, she would recognize that voice everywhere

Spyro.

She noticed him springing in front of her eyes, eyes shimmering with loving attention, legs bent prepared for a jump. A jump he commenced, yet instead of his whole body only the upper part of it lifted itself from the ground, as if he suddenly decided that giving himself to joy is a bad idea judging from her condition, but at the same time being unable to hold his advance completely.

The bed bent under their combined weight, the mattress crunching down under the force of his landing paws, making her head tilt slightly down. His eyes sparkled, he clearly noticed the result of his jump and immediately pushed his body off the bed with another jerk of his upper muscles.

Her head bounced slightly once again.

He returned to the ground, he remained there for a while, their eyes and smiling mouths watching each other for some time. He then sprung again, once more only the upper part of his body raised in the air, but this time his legs didn't land on the sheets but back again on the floor. As if his heart was struggling with his mind.

A struggle that eventually ended with a compromise. With his left leg only lying on the bed.

"You're awake!" Spyro shouted, his voice carrying far more feminine squeaky tone in it than it fits a heterosexual male

Despite her injuries and troubled thoughts she giggled.

"You're a doll"

Spyro smiled, his body kept swaying back and forth, as if he wanted to get on the bed but at the same time couldn't decide if he should.

"I'm not made of glass you know" she commented with a smirk

He cocked his head in confusion, the intelligent dragon lost in understanding the simplest of hints in his overjoyed state.

"Kiss me you fool"

It was enough. Spyro joined her on the bed, standing right in front of her before lowering his head to meet her risen snout and eager lips.

They kissed, it wasn't that much of a passionate loving attention as their first time, the kiss was more of a thankful one, a kiss to let go off all the burdens and worries of the past hours.

Their lips kept on caressing themselves for a while, clearly showing that both of them really needed it.

Spyro was the first who retreated, yet only from her lips, his warm tongue still not satisfied as it began to gently slide against her cheek, shoulder and finally her neck. The usually sensitive spot became far more tender due to her state, so the moment his tongue touched her scales it no longer felt like the exciting caress of a feather but as a stimulation of a G spot.

Her claws clenched themselves on the bed, rippling the delicate material as her head tilted up and a soft squirm touched her body.

Spyro withdrew from her neck and nuzzled her affectionately.

"I was sick with worry" he whispered, voice wavering with emotion

Cynder curled her paw against his leg, planting a soft kiss on it.

"Everything is good. I'm right here"

"I should never allow this to happen, I should have kept a closer eye on her, I should-"

"Shhh" she rubbed his leg "Nothing of this is your fault, stop blaming yourself. It's over now"

He let out a deep breath.

Cynder leaned her head against his leg, licking her lips.

"How's Iris?"

She felt every muscle in his leg stiffening.

"I don't care" he rumbled

"Is she dead?" she asked sadly

"I don't care about Iris. You matter to me"

"Please Spyro, if you know something tell me"

He pulled back gently, looking at her "She almost killed you Cynder! Attacked you when you were tired and alone. Why it is so important for you to know what happened to her? She got what she deserved"

She looked at him pleadingly "She is a bitch true but she doesn't deserve to die. Not by my paws, I killed enough of my race as it is, I don't want another dragon on my conscience. I beg you-"

"Stop" he cut her off "You don't have to beg, plead or anything, not to me" he sighed "Amela told me she'll live, I didn't really cared about the details but when I found you two in the training grounds, even with your wounds you looked better than her. If I wouldn't pull her out of there I'm sure she would be dead by now"

Cynder jerked her head back "You helped her?"

Spyro nodded "Yes"

"Why? You just said..."

"That she deserved it, yes. Maybe she did, but honestly I'm not so certain, I just knew I couldn't leave her there, even after everything she had done to you"

He shrugged "I'm scarred, after Boven I just don't want to see people die, even if they are evil and dangerous, naively hoping that I'll somehow make them see some good in their life. I don't know really, I'm just too weak I guess"

"What?" she blurt out as she looked straight into his eyes, her own orbs sparkling with indescribable affection

"You helped the girl who attacked me!" she grabbed his paw, using it as leverage "Spyro I don't know from which heaven you came from and from where you got that heart of yours but I have never loved you more than I do right now"

He looked into the shimmering green emeralds of hers and smiled.

"Really? Helping your enemies earns me points?" he tapped his claw against the sheets and huffed in a show of pretended contemplation

"What would I get for resurrecting Malefor I wonder?"

The pretty glow puffed away from her eyes suddenly, whatever smile she offered disappeared as well, making her look like a girl that just seen a ghost.

Or is looking at one right now.

Spyro observed her with a worried frown.

"That...was a joke"

Cynder rubbed his leg with a weak reassuring smile "You did nothing wrong. I'm just...thinking"

"Seems to me that you really strain yourself, you're pale. What's going on?"

"You remember Creep?"

Spyro flinched at the sound of the name.

She nodded "Exactly that one. You see, Iris knew what she was doing, she went after me well-rested and prepared while I could barely stand. At some point she hit me really bad, I dropped on the ground and just couldn't get up, I was spent"

With every new word he kept on shivering more and more.

"She went for the kill and I was unable to stop her and then suddenly my paw rose on its own and I scratched her and it was over. I felt like a spectator to tell the truth, it were my limbs moving but I had no control over them. All I know for sure, well at least what I could see before I fainted, is that Iris was going through a torment judging from the amount of blood she threw up and that Creep showed up after everything went silent"

He gulped "You're trying to say that creature possessed you?"

She bit her lip, that was a possibility she considered but didn't want to accept. When talking about that odd dragon nothing can be taken for granted.

"Maybe...I don't know"

"Okay that's it" he stomped his paw firmly yet gently "I don't like the sound of that, taking someone else's will is evil to the core, no matter the motive. You need to get rid of that thing"

Cynder frowned "Where I don't want to see people die even when they are evil and dangerous go?"

"People Cynder! People! There's a subtle difference between...I don't know, ghost and living creature!"

"Creep is not a ghost"

"Monster, demon, whatever. Nothing changes, you got to get rid of it"

"You're not the judgmental type Spyro, what if he is just like me? Blamed for his looks and unexplained actions?"

He let out a mocking snicker "Pardon? Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't remember you haunting people in their dreams, literary speaking or nor do I remember you turning into a tentacle monster that eats people!"

She narrowed her eyes on him with a hiss.

"Look what a cocky smartass visited me"

Spyro jumped off the bed, to eventually end on looking through the window. Rays of the waking sun slowly intensified on color as they traveled up his purple body.

He let out a deep breath.

"I'm sorry. I snap because I feel helpless, everyone around is struggling with something, have targets on their backs while I can do nothing to help. I don't know anything, don't see anything. I do nothing"

She looked at him caringly, taking a mental note just how handsome he looks in the rays of the climbing sun.

"That's your hero ego talking"

He remained silent.

"Troubles seem to stay away from you, is this really that bad? We all know what happened when evil wanted to charge you in a frontal assault, maybe it learned its lesson. Maybe it knows that challenging you again would be suicide so it avoids confrontation. Maybe this time it's up to you to read through its ploy, it's time for you to take the fight to it"

He kept on staring at the world behind the glass, her eyes never leaving his body, she wondered how much she would be willing to pay to get a glimpse into his thoughts right now.

"Ok fine" Spyro turned around "So what now?"

"Well if you're bored how about you keep me company when I call for Creep?"

"Are you sure this is a good idea?"

Cynder shrugged "What else can happen? This is the only way, we satisfy our curiosity, Creep gets a benefit of a doubt and when things will go really sour you won't feel helpless anymore. Everyone wins"

He returned to the bed, gently approached her and sat by her side.

"If you're going to do this I'm not leaving your side"

She curled into the warmth his body offered.

"I've hoped you say that"

His tail wrapped itself around hers and with that they both observed the only open space the room had to offer.

"Creep" Cynder finally mumbled, feeling Spyro shiver anxiously next to her, his reaction took almost all of his concentration that she barely noticed that her throat dried

They both looked around the room nervously.

"And?" Spyro swallowed uneasily "Did something change?"

Her alert green eyes traveled across every corner, looking for the tiniest disproportion in layers of shadow...or...or anything that stood out of the ordinary.

She found nothing.

"Nope" she eventually replied

"Oh well, we tried"

"Creep"

Spyro shook his head "But why not try again"

Nothing.

"Come to me Creep!"

Even despite the seriousness of this situation Spyro couldn't stop himself from chuckling.

"Yeah, calling him like he was a pet will surely work"

Cynder glared at him irritated.

"If you have a better idea on how to summon a supernatural creature by all means do it. I won't get in your way"

Spyro winced innocently "Sorry, It was a badly timed remark"

She playfully bumped her side into his rump and winked.

"Creep!"

Silence.

"From what I understand that thing really wanted to see you, a couple of days won't change its mind I believe. Think, didn't it leave a hint on how to summon it, a password or like that?"

"Spyro, this is not-" her voice ended abruptly, eyes widened when her mind darted down the memory lane and returned back with a speed of light.

"Creep" she licked her lips "I need you"

Both of them focused on the room with renewed vigor.

It was empty.

"This will be an uneasy confrontation Sugar" a low, hollow voice boomed across the room, coming from ever corner at the same time

Cynder instinctively threw herself up on all fours with a startled gasp, even despite the sore pain coursing through her bones.

"What's going on?" Spyro blurt out worryingly as he also rose on his legs, paws feeling heavier than usual

"He's here" she whispered

He felt like a lump just grew inside his throat.

"Why?" Cynder asked, intensively scanning the room "You have something to hide?"

"This projection is for your eyes only"

"I don't care. Show yourself"

"You're talking with it?" Spyro whispered, eyes never leaving the room

"Yes"

He focused on the room more intently, but found nothing of interest.

"I don't hear anything" he muttered

"Sugar, your wish will be difficult for some of us to understand"

Her determination remained unchanged.

"Doesn't matter. Show yourself, I need you"

She didn't have to wait long for the effect, the shadow underneath the window spat out dark tendrils as a fire would spit embers. The sound that walked side by side with the image made her tail impulsively jump on the bed.

"What's going on?" Spyro inquired, uneasiness clearly audible in his voice

"The shadow" Cynder whispered "Under the window"

Spyro saw nothing out of the ordinary.

The same thing couldn't be said about her.

The black object of interest she mentioned spat out more dark tendrils with a squeak, shriek, scream, basically a sound very familiar to her Siren's Scream, scary and otherworldly. The shadowy arms joined up some distance away from the window, when all were beginning to intertwine with each other like copulating snakes.

That ominous union gave birth to an even more intimidating being, the slithery black tentacles started to form a scarred draconic body she so very well remembered but wished she would not.

The wounded draconic body started to appear from the top while the swirling tendrils went down. First was the head with two closed eyes, then the back, thighs, tail and eventually paws. The shadowy tentacles didn't disappear but instead began to swirl from underneath the drake's legs. With a tongue of shadow jutting out from the back of his paws while spreading little, as if burning, whips from the rest of the dragon's paws.

He opened his eyelids, shadowy smoke crossed his eyes to evaporate through the corners of his brown orbs in a thick smoke like from a lit cigar.

Then his eyes focused intently at her.

"I am here" rumbled the low, hollow voice of the dragon.

Something changed in the room.

Did it get darker all of a sudden?

Spyro shook his head and focused once more.

Everything was back to normal.

It must have been his strained imagination playing tricks on him, but he would swear that the rays of the sun seemed to dim for a brief moment like a flame on a dying candle.