Spyro: Dawn of Light, 2-33

SPYRO: DAWN OF LIGHT

Part 2




CHAPTER 33




Neves shivered as he stared at the portal doorway, an image of the Temple shimmering in the energy field.  I failed...everything they taught me...I failed everything...I broke up the group, I almost killed Flame...Dad'll be furious...but I have to know where Shimmer is...at least if she's okay... Gritting his teeth he limped closer and spread his wings, stepping through the portal and flying through the strange connecting line.  Landing in the temple brought an unusual stillness.  The temple felt unnaturally empty.  "I need to avoid dad for now," he whispered to himself, looking around.  He didn't feel anything out of the ordinary...in fact he felt nothing at all.  "Where is everyone?"

"The elders left."  Neves whipped around to find his father standing right behind him.  "They went looking for you."

If not for his already white scales, Neves would have blanched white on the spot.  "D...Dad...h-hi...I uh..."

"Yes?" his father grunted, barely moving, his red eyes locked onto the younger ice dragon cowering on the floor.

"I...I uh..."  He gulped nervously.  "H-How is mom doing?"  Silence was his only answer.  He couldn't get out of this one.  "I shouldn't have come back..."

"Why do you say that?" came the hissing query.

His head drooped, eyes staring at the floor.  "I failed..." he whispered weakly.

"You will look at me and answer so I can hear you."

The young ice dragon tried, but found himself unable to make eye contact, trembling.  "I failed...I failed everything..."

The elder shadow dragon stood up, Neves flinching and covering his face with his wings.  He could feel his father's presence on the other side of his membranes, the hot dark breath on his scales.  In his mind's eye he saw that vicious red glow of anger from his pupils, spines extending all over his body.  He whimpered, cringing in anticipation of the impending snarling lecture.

"Well done."

Everything came to a crashing halt.  Despite himself he looked up over his wings, expecting this to be a trick and to find his father ready to bite his head off.  But all he saw was a rare smile looking down on him.  "...Wha...?"

"Everyone fails, Sev.  What makes you stronger is not never failing, but how you rise from a failure."

"B-But...I a-almost killed F-Flame..."

"Is he dead?"

"...N-No?"

"Did you leave on at least neutral terms?"

"I...I think so...I don't know..."

The night-scaled dragon leaned in and nuzzled him softly.  "If he's not dead, and you're not hating each other, then the situation is more or less resolved and you've already risen from that failure.  It doesn't matter anymore."

"But I broke up the group!  I failed them all again..."

"Well then.  Take a note from this and steel yourself to not commit the error again.  It's happened twice, now you have the chance to make amends when everyone is brought back together."

The ice dragon shivered, his jaw quivering.  All at once he just burst and flopped against his father's foreleg, sobbing bitterly.  The larger dragon laid down and curled up around his eldest son, hugging him with his neck.  "I can't do anything right..."

"Tell me what happened."

Neves just let loose, explaining from their landing to the library, from the girls' fight to their disappearance during the night, and then his fight with Flame.  Nightshade just quietly listened.

"That's certainly a lot to shoulder," he agreed, ignoring the fact that he entirely skipped any mention of Shimmer.  "But Neves, the fight over Spyro was not something you could have done anything about.  In that aspect, you didn't fail."

"But...I could've been more attentive..."

"Did you know of their conflicts previously?"

Neves opened his mouth to reply, but found his response dying in his throat.  "No...I mean, well, in the White Isles Plazyma kind of hinted that she has a crush on Spyro.  And it's no secret Cynder and Ember are both enamored with him, though Cynder's more reserved about it...but...I should've seen it coming, I should've done something about it..."

Nightshade shook his head.  "There was very little, if anything, for you to do.  That was an issue they need to address themselves."  Neves just stared at him in total confusion.  "Girls aren't logical like us, Sev.  They will hold grudges over stupid things for years.  They'll take offense at innocent things, yet are innocent with some offensive things.  When it comes to relationships, you can't do much to change their minds.  They have to do it their way.  And their way is usually to fight and then hold a grudge afterwards.  It's just how girls work.  Most of the time, anyway."

"But...couldn't I have done something at least?"

"No.  It's something they have to settle themselves.  Hopefully they'll move on, but knowing them, Ember and Plazyma especially, there's going to be a lot of tension later."

"But...I still failed as a leader..."

Nightshade nuzzled his son gently.  "Then step down."  Neves stared at him in shock.  "It's all over your face, Nev.  It has been for years.  You don't want guardianship.  You don't want to be a leader."

"I always get stuck as one though!"

"That was earlier when you and the others were still learning your places.  Ignitus and the rest of us have, this past year, been giving you more and more room to choose.  You've still chosen to be a leader.  You have the talents it takes to organize the team.  But you take it on yourself to gather everyone under your banner."

"That's the problem they all had..."  He sighed and hid under his wing.  "I took everyone for granted, didn't think about their feelings...just used them like pawns..."

"All the more reason to step down and let someone else lead.  Perhaps Spyro or Flame."  He lifted the ice dragon's wing a bit.  "You assume the leader has to do all the thinking.  You can still be an organizer while working under another.  But you also have to give room for the others to exercise their strengths.  Your problem is you think too deeply into things and orchestrate every one of their moves.  You mimicked our training.  We only orchestrated your moves to tone you kids for battle, to grind those moves to near-reflex.  When you're leading a group, you don't always have to babysit their every move.  When you're truly a team, all you have to do is advise and they'll perform the rest.  You haven't given them the room to exercise their wits and, in turn, demonstrate what they can do.  A true team grows to anticipate and understand what the other members are doing or planning."

Neves just sighed heavily, looking away.  Nightshade nuzzled him again and stood up, leaving him to his thoughts.  The ice dragon just stared at the scales on his side, absently tracing the patterns as he mulled things over.  I'm not the leader anymore...there isn't a group anyway anymore...

Later that night, Neves was at his old spot on the temple roof, staring at the setting sun.  A tiny moving glow caught his attention nearby; turning to watch it, he recognized the faint white glow.  "Hey Sparx..." he grumbled when the firefly alighted on his tail.  "Sorry, Spyro's not here...won't be for a while I guess..."  He shivered a bit as the bug crawled up his back, tickling his scales.  "I'm not the group leader anymore either...hell, I'm not even a guardian...I don't deserve to be one."  Sparx flitted to his nose and flashed rapidly.  "....You know only Spyro can understand you."  The dragonfly gave a single blip, probably an exasperated huff.  "I don't know what I should do...Shimmer left me again...I just want her to be happy but I keep messing up horribly.  It's like I keep spiraling out of control.  I finally get into her good graces, only to spin around and around faster and faster until I lose her..."  Silence fell between them when Sparx didn't reply, seemingly put off by Neves' inability to understand his light-language.  "I wish I knew where she went... I just wanna tell her I'm sorry."  At that, the dragonfly lit up and danced excitedly.  "What?" he asked, dumbfounded.  Giving another exasperated flash, the dragonfly flitted off quickly.  Neves sighed and laid down, his chin on his paws.  "Yeah, thanks a lot..." he grumbled, staring at the brown sun.  Not too long afterwards though, the insect returned carrying a little charm.  Neves stared at the little fish-bone carving...it was something he'd made for Shimmer in his off-time, a gift he was preparing for her.  "You...you little sneak...how did you know about this?!" he asked, sitting up.  Sparx just set it down on the roof.  The ice dragon went to grab it, but Sparx flitted back and snatched it, pulling it further away before dropping it again.  "This isn't time to play you dumb bug!  That's not a toy!" Neves shouted, leaping after it.  Sparx easily dodged, snatching the charm again and pulling it away.  This time though he flashed rapidly.  Neves stared at him, trying to fit this together...Sparx wasn't flying erratically as if this were a game, but rather moving the charm in a straight line, and never too far away.  He was trying to say something.  "Chase...?"  The bug flitted up and down happily, spinning around.  "Chase...you want me to chase you?"  Sparx stopped in midflight, turning and just staring at the dragon.  "What are you trying to say?"  The insect grabbed the charm again and dragged it once more along the rooftop, then spiraled around it in an ever-tightening arc until he landed on it.  The dragon's eyes widened, remembering what he'd said not even five minutes earlier.  "Spiraling...chase..."  Padding slowly closer he picked up the charm, Sparx flitting up by his paw.  "You want me to chase after her..."  Sparx flickered rapidly and spun around again.

Clenching his paw around the charm in resolve, Neves looked up at the sky, just barely able to see the brighter stars peeking through the murky haze.  Shimmer...wherever you are...please wait for me...just so I can apologize at least.


--------------------


Far to the north, Spyro and Cynder trudged through the thick snow, wings shielding their faces from the bitter cold winds and stinging snow.  They'd found a system of ice caves earlier that day, but had somehow gotten turned around and ended up circling around back to where they'd started.  Before they could double back into the tunnels, some unknown force caused the cave mouth to collapse, the two dragons sent tumbling down the ice wall in the debris.  Cynder thought it was a high-pitched Dreadwing screech or a Ghoul, but Spyro wasn't so sure they were that lucky.  Using a bit of his power Spyro was forced to melt a small pocket in the ice wall for them to spend the night in.  While he went about sealing it up against potential enemies, Cynder got a fire going, divvying up some of the fish she'd brought.

"What're you here for anyway?" she asked when he finally sat down by the fire.

"No clue, really," he replied, leaning down to take a bite of fish.  "That shadu drogon thng told meh sumfin abou 'chilling depfs, airy heighths n molten thtone."

"Don't talk while you're eating, you're not very good at it," she quipped, shifting her mouthful to her cheek to mock him as she chewed while talking. He rolled his eyes and finished his meal quickly before attempting again.

"That shadow dragon thing that's been haunting Ember, while I was chasing it, said something like 'airy heights, chilling depths, molten stone'.  The only chilling depths I know of are the cave systems underground here, they're pretty much entirely ice.  And the storm system overheard is very unnatural...something's going on."

Her eyes darkened.  "I know what dwells down there, Spyro...Ripto often spoke of employing him but he was too lazy to do it himself."

"Who is it?"

"An ancient king of what this land used to be.  Now he's known as the Ice King."  She sighed, looking up at the ceiling.  "Grendor once related the history to me.  The Trolls that lived here in ages past used to be an amicable race, and like the Moles were a prime supplier of materials.  But, a few years before the Dark Master, Malefor, was admitted to the Temple to study the elements, the Troll king found some kind of arcane black magic... He cast a spell over his people and turned them into invincible warriors, sorta the same line of magic Gnasty uses to turn gems into gnorcs.  They waged war on nearby territories, until the King caused the whole island to be moved far to the north.  It was a huge island...I have no idea how he did it, perhaps he summoned a Magma Golem.  He wrapped his entire kingdom in bitter cold and continued to send his warriors in droves to conquer other lands.  The guardians finally stepped in and used it as a test for their student...the purple dragon...and after a few days of struggling he finally made his way to the King, now become the Ice King, and managed to severely wound him."

"Only wound him?"

"The magic binding them was strong enough to prevent even Malefor's strongest attacks from totally affecting him.  But he was successful in driving the Ice King into submission.  Malefor burned off all his skin and exposed what he'd become, an ice elemental zombie.  The Ice King retreated to the depths to recover and was never heard from again, his kingdom falling into ruin.  The magic has worn off since then; it revives the Ghouls here, but is no longer strong enough to make them immortal.  So, theoretically, the Ice King is no longer immortal either.  Even without that though, if he were to awaken again he'd be a serious threat.  His ice magic, by virtue of its black magic source, may be even stronger than yours."

The purple dragon grumbled, thinking it over.  "But if he's an ice elemental, he's surely weak against fire and heat.  I've got a few tricks Flame mentioned before I left..."

Cynder shook her head.  "You may have incredibly strong fire but I doubt it'll be enough.  He's sure to have wrapped himself in all kinds of defensive wards."

"That's assuming he's what the shadow dragon was talking about in the first place.  There could be something else here."  He ran his paw slowly through the fire, Cynder watching curiously as the fire seemed to wrap around his toes harmlessly.  "Who knows, maybe Crush or Gulp or someone else is working here in the caves."

"Crush can't survive the cold, but Gulp can.  I'm not sure what he's weak against."

Spyro nodded.  "I'll have to remember that, thanks."

She gave him a small smile, Spyro having to pretend he heard something outside to hide the red on his face.  Quiet fell between them, the only sounds being the whistling of the wind against the air vent holes in the ice seal and the crackling of the fire.  Eventually Cynder rolled onto her side lazily.  "Spyro...what do you know about Convexity?"

"Not much..."  He sighed and sat across from her, staring into the red embers.  "Ignitus told us that Convexity acts as a sort of air-lock between our realms and the Dark Realm beyond.  It's a chaotic, supernatural realm where only the strongest can survive, literally.  Anyone too weak will be...decimated?  I don't remember the term he used but if you enter Convexity without the proper level of strength, the atmosphere will kill you and destroy your body."

"But...we've been through Convexity before, right?  Those portals we used?"

"I don't understand that fully but...apparently certain portals that pass through Convexity do so through some sort of dimensional channel.  There's the actual realm of Convexity, but within it are lines of power that seem to isolate tunnels of reality from their surroundings.  We're safe within those tunnels, and with the proper crystal power we can open a door into them."  He scrunched his face, thinking back.  "I remember hearing somewhere though that Convexity itself can be accessed...but I have no idea how or in what form."

Cynder watched a few sparks float in the heated air above the fire.  "Would be cool if we could use it as a breath, wouldn't it?"

"I don't really know...I'd rather know the effects of a breath.  I mean, for all we know, breathing Convexity's power could backfire and shred us.  Or it could manifest as slimy tentacles.  That would be disgusting."  He grimaced, his tongue sticking out a bit.

"Well if it's opinion you're after, you think my poison breath is cool but I can't stand the thought of hacking up toxic phlegm."

His eyes widened.  "...That's what you're doing?  I thought it was a breath manifestation!"

"Oh hell no!  I wish it were that!"  They both laughed awkwardly, "ew"ing each other at the idea.  Eventually though they found themselves staring into the fire again.  Spyro produced another block of wood and set it in, spitting on it and lighting it instantly to save the trouble of waiting for it to heat up and catch.

"So Cynder...what did you and the others find?"  He didn't notice her expression instantly sour at his question.

"Something about Tephra's power boost kept nagging at me, so I did some digging in the library...at least where I was allowed to."  She gave a soft growl at that but continued.  "Everything centers on that weird trident-spear thing that stupid gnorc jabbed me with.  Neves said there's a copy of it in the underground vault and I asked Shimmer to get me the scrolls, but they can't remove anything and she was more focused on her own research."  She sighed, pacing in circles.  "Ember also affirmed that they tried jabbing her with that spear too when they kidnapped her, and that Tephra was confused about the lack of a reaction.  I found a lot about magic enhancement theories too, but I had to translate a lot of it, so I wasn't able to read much before we were interrupted.  Gnorcs were aware of the prophecy surrounding us and tried to find a way to superpower an allied dragon's powers to the level of an avatar, like us.  I think Ripto used the mountain setting in order to further enhance Tephra's earth powers as well as augmenting her body.  In essence, she's more magic than dragon, at least for the next few years until her natural powers catch up to the level of her magic augmentations.  Most of her power is stemming from Ripto, at least, if what I read is correct.  He's acting as the source, which would explain why he's rarely ever far from that mountain chain."

"I see.  What did they find out about the mountain?  Mount Elamrof?"

"Not much.  Under the soil layer, it's all the same stone.  The mountain appears in documents as far back as a thousand years, but all studies of it confirm that it's not naturally formed.  About five hundred years ago the evil spirits began to 'rise from within'...which seems to corroborate the theory that it's a cap over some sort of graveyard or place of evil worship.  We found that old scroll we went through together a while ago and reminded me that it refers to the elemental essence orbs...are those the things we collected in the Outer Realms?"

"Yep.  So far as I know anyway.  But I have a bad feeling about them..."

"What do you mean?"

Spyro sighed and laid down, rolling onto his back and staring at the icy ceiling overhead.  "I can't shake the feeling that we're being played expertly.  We all thought Ripto was a villain wannabe, constantly changing his mind, but apparently he has some grand master plan and all those 'changes' were carefully laid out too.  Ripto challenged us years ago to test our powers firsthand.  And now, he's just teasing the whole world.  Sending out small skirmishes, lying in wait, keeping us on the very brink of war.  We keep thinking each new attack is the start of the war.  But just when all seems lost he pulls back.  He's exhausting us intentionally with numerous distractions, playing a psychological game.  And he knows the guardians cannot act without proper provocation...he's using the rules to his advantage."

She sighed and laid her head on his chest, not noticing his face go a bit red.  "But we're not guardians...technically.  Are we?"

"Not really.  Just trainees.  Neves is the only one of us who could be considered a guardian right now."

"What about...you?"

The purple dragon sighed heavily.  "With my power level constantly rising, I could be one.  But...I don't really want to be.  Everyone has all these expectations of me..."  He rolled over and stood up, Cynder watching him in confusion as he walked a few paces in the snow.  "When I was a kid, everyone hated me because I was an unusual color.  They thought I was diseased or crippled or something.  Then out of nowhere Neves sweeps us away to the Temple, Ripto appears and before I know it everyone suddenly realizes what I am and expects me to be a guardian and save the world.  I always wanted to be something, but...not this."  His wings sagged.  "I've gone from one isolation to another...simply because I'm purple..."

She stood up and silently padded over to him, nuzzling his shoulder.  "You're not alone, Spyro...you're not isolated.  I was hated too...you know that.  I was rejected because of my color too..."  She licked his cheek, giggling at the red tinge on his scales.  "You're my best friend and I'm gonna help you however I can."

"Including risking your life just to bring me fish?"

She blushed and looked away.  "Well...yeah...Spyro, I was really scared when Ignitus said he couldn't see you."

Spyro sighed.  "I know that's not all there is to it though."  She glanced at him; he caught apprehension in her eyes.  "You've been being unusually nice to me.  You're also avoiding talking about the others, only talking about them when I ask.  Did something happen, Cynder?"

She started to shake her head, then stopped and stared at him.  Out of nowhere she suddenly felt intimidated by him; for a brief moment his face flashed with the most seriousness she'd ever seen, accompanied by a forceful presence.  She shrank back from him and whimpered.  "I-I'm sorry I didn't wanna tell you but everyone broke up and there was this huge fight and-"  She stopped, clapping her paws over her mouth.

Her reaction confused him immensely, but her babbling caught his attention.  "Whoa whoa, what do you mean they broke up?!"

She whimpered again, shivering.  "W-W-We...we had...an argument..."  She laid down and hid under her wings, her voice cracking.  "Everyone had this huge fight and...we...we all split up..."

"What was the fight about?"

She shook her head fervently under her wings, peeking out at him.  That forceful presence arose again, like a crushing pressure, making her shudder and squeak.  "I'M SORRY!!  WE FOUGHT OVER YOU!!! PLAZYMA AND EMBER WERE FIGHTING OVER YOU!!!"

Her sudden shrieking startled him; what the heck was wrong with her?  He gently laid a paw on her but she squeaked again and jumped back, staring at him in fright.  He just stared at her, dumbfounded.  Why was she suddenly so scared?  "Cynder...what's going on?"

"P-p-please...s-stop looking at me like that..." she whimpered, tears beading at the corners of her eyes.

Well, now he was just utterly stupefied.  "...Cynder, is something wrong?"

"YOU!!"  With that outcry, all at once that pressure vanished, and the seriousness left his face to reveal him looking hurt and confused.  They sat there staring at each other awkwardly until Spyro, dejected, turned away and laid down.  "Spyro I'm sorry...I didn't mean..."

"No...I'm sorry.  I'm always a problem..."

She stumbled over her own tongue, stuttering as she tried to formulate a response.  Unable to speak she finally sighed in frustration, then quietly padded over to him.  Spyro's eyes snapped open when he felt something warm and soft fall over him.  
The blanket he'd bought for her.

He craned his neck to glance back but she was already curled up by the fire, her back to him.  Now it was his turn for an awkward pause; he wanted to say something, but just couldn't find the right words.  He finally sighed in frustration and stood up.  Cynder started a bit and looked up sharply at him when she felt the blanket slip over her, but to her surprise he stayed, laying down against her back.  She rolled over onto her belly, paws tucked under herself.  "Spyro...I'm sorry...everything's just been such a mess lately..."

"Including me..." he grumbled.

"No...it's not you.  You're not the problem...I am..."  She sighed and laid her chin on the floor, wings sagging sadly under the blanket.  "I guess I'm the one who started that fight...it was so stupid..."

He leaned down and nuzzled her neck.  "You're not stupid..."  

Quiet fell between them, Cynder not really knowing how to reply to him.  Conveniently for her, her thigh suddenly tensed sharply, cramping.  She squeaked in pain and shot up, wincing as she struggled to straighten her leg.  Spyro came over and ran his paws over the fire again, then started rubbing her leg with his heated paws.  She winced as her muscles tensed at the contact, but his rubbing and the heat finally eased the cramp.  "You're really good at that..."  He just nodded wordlessly, continuing to rub her until he was sure the tension was gone.  She flexed her leg, then smiled at him again.  "Thanks.  I don't suppose you'd be willing to give the rest of me a rubdown too?"

"Not tonight...maybe when we're not in the middle of enemy territory."

"Awww, come on, pweeeaaase?" she begged, rolling onto her back and curling her paws against her chest in her best attempt to look adorable.  She giggled when he looked away, his face going red.  "I haven't slept well for a while, I wanna have some dreams."

"About what?" he asked, trying to change the subject, though right after he asked it he wondered if it was a smart thing to ask.

"Mmmm, iunno, maybe...yaaar, fear me?" she suggested, giggling and rolling onto her belly.

Spyro facepawed and sighed, rubbing his eyes with his toe knuckles.  "I had this weird dream last night..."

Cynder sat down beside him, curling her tail around her paws.  "Do tell?"

"Not much to tell...except that there was...someone...telling me that there are foes here that aren't of this realm...they don't belong here."  His eyes were scrunched as he fought to remember the dream.  "It was a female voice...it sounded old and weary."

"A female voice?" Cynder asked, confused.  "Spyro...do you know if any of the guardians have been female?  Could it be one of the old guardians?"

"I don't know.  So far as I know guardians are typically male.  Females usually tend to the nests and the young trainees.  Or...they used to in the old times."

She sighed softly and leaned against him.  The action caught him off-guard; a strange heat suddenly shot through him, focusing on his belly and face, his scales turning a bit red.  His stomach felt full of butterflies.  Not wanting her to catch his reaction though he leaned his head atop hers, the heat in his face rising when he heard a soft, delicate treble from her chest.  "I've always dreamt of that...having my own nest full of eggs..." she whispered.  In his agitated state he didn't pick up the slight nervous waver in her voice, nor did he feel her body likewise heating up in shyness... she too was blushing and feeling jittery.  Which was probably why she didn't really consider what effect her words had on the already jittery male she was snuggling with.

Spyro struggled to come up with a reply...any reply... SOMEthing to acknowledge that he'd at least heard her, but his throat was all knotted up.  Here he was...alone with Cynder...why was he suddenly so uptight and tense?  Why was his body acting this way?  He didn't understand at all...and her mentioning eggs made his heart race.  Any attempts at speech died before his breath could affect his vocal chords.  After an awkward silence he finally got a tiny bit of control over himself, enough to wrap his tail around hers, his chest rumbling softly with a steady purr.  Cynder murred softly and nuzzled his neck, squeezing his tail with hers.  It sent butterflies soaring through both of them...but this time it felt...nice.  Not nervous, but excited in a pleasant way.  Comfortable.  Whatever it was, it was enough to calm their nerves such that they spent the evening quietly snuggling like that until Cynder's head slowly slumped down his neck and shoulder onto his paws, her back and wings rising and falling slowly in slumber.  Spyro looked down at her sleepily and blushed...she looked so innocent and cute when she was asleep.  He nuzzled her forehead softly, laying his chin next to hers and watching her sleeping face until his eyes gave in and slid shut.  



The next morning, if it could be called that amidst the storm, the two were back outside, struggling through the snow and winds to find those caves. Spyro was worried about the black dragoness beside him; yesterday she was shivering, but today she was quaking.  Was the stress of hunting him down after that argument still affecting her?  When they reached another cave entrance he ushered her inside with his wing, wincing at how cold she was.  "Cynder, it's too cold for you here, you shouldn't have come!"

"I-I'll b-be f-fine-ne..." she chattered, producing her blanket and wrapping it around herself with her wings.

"Where's the palace?  We need to get you off the ice here."

She shook her head.  "Th-the p-palace isn't around an-anym-more...d-destroyed in his f-fight ag-gainst Malefor..."

He sighed and laid his wing over her.  "I'm gonna warm you up, but I need you to use your shadow sense to try to pinpoint the Ice King."

"N-no!!  Y-You c-can't!!  L-let's just explore f-first..."

He shook his head, feeding fire energy around her to heat the air.  "If Ripto was planning on recruiting the Ice King, it would be better if I put him out of commission while I'm here.  After that, we can look around.  If I defeat him, it'll knock out the Ghouls, right?"

"I d-dunno..."  She snuggled up against him tightly, finding him to be quite warm.  "It...it might, if he used himself as the source of the undeath spell..."

"Then I'm gonna do it."

She looked up at him, fear in her eyes.  "But..."

He looked her in the eyes.  "Cynder...trust me.  I got this."

She stared back at him, seeing strong resolve and confidence in his eyes.  She tried several times to say something to stop him, but her voice died in her throat, her own resolve to stop him not measuring up.  Finally she sighed.  "Alright...I trust you...but I'm going with you."

"I want you to stay here-"

"No!  I'm going with you!!" she said firmly.  I almost lost you...I'm not gonna lose you again...

He sighed.  "Fine.  Just help me locate him."

The black dragoness closed her eyes with a long, deep breath.  A tendril of shadow power emerged from her and slowly circled around until it stopped, pointing down through the ice to their left.  "Somewhere straight down that way I'm feeling a very strong magic presence."

The purple dragon nodded and stood up, Cynder watching curiously.  He too closed his eyes with a deep breath.  Cynder yelped in fright; without warning, his entire body burst aflame, the ice under his paws hissing.  He lifted a paw and punched into the floor.  She could feel the air ripple as energy was focused into that strike, what appeared to be a spear of fire flashing briefly around his paw and then shooting into the floor.  His body still on fire he turned to her, the fire turning into frost at its tips.  "Follow me then."  With that he walked into the floor, sliding down.  He'd punched a tunnel straight towards the Ice King??  Cynder couldn't believe what she'd just seen.  Hesitantly she put her blanket away and followed him, meeping when her paws gave out on the slick ice and she went sliding down after him.  The light of his fire flooded the shiny tunnel, the sounds of his fire spears reverberating around them as he continued punching straight through.  All too soon he yelped and dropped out of sight, Cynder quickly following as she fell and then landed on him.  Thankfully the surprise of finding another chamber had caused his fire to go out.  They looked around, not seeing much aside from icy columns.  "Huh.  Looks like there are more hallways down here."

Cynder nodded, then paused, staring at something.  She tried to walk to whatever it was but yipped when her paws failed to find purchase, sending her flat on her face.  "Ow..."  Lacing her paws with acid she strode closer, the acid melting the ice around her pawpads and toes, giving her perfect traction.  Spyro watched her examine something on the floor, then wince as she picked it up with her teeth, bringing it back over to him.  His eyes darkened.

"Apes..."  What she carried was a piece of armor in the shape of her face, broken in several places, but definitely a familiar sight.  "A baldric buckle."

She tossed it aside a few feet, then spat acid on it, scornfully watching it dissolve.  "We may have been beaten to the chase, maybe that storm is from him being awake."

"All the more reason to take him out before he can aid Ripto."  He burst into flame again, the ice under him melting slowly.  "Which way?"

She closed her eyes again, the shadow tendril homing in much more quickly this time now that she knew what to look for.  With that he speared the floor again and jumped into the hole.  She quickly followed suit, the two sliding through the depths until they landed in what seemed to be a grand hall.  The two of them shivered; it was incredibly cold down here and there was a very strong dark presence.  At the far end of the hallway was a huge door partly ajar.  "He's behind that door.  He's gotta be," she whimpered, shivering again.

"I'll make this quick so you can get out of this cold."  They strode up to the door, Spyro going through without hesitation.  Cynder hung back, afraid of what lay beyond, but timidly followed him.  True to their suspicions, the Apes had beaten them to it.  At least fifty, if not more, sets of Ape armor sets lay strewn and hewn across the floor, many encased in thick ice.  The floor itself was a wide pathway spanning a deep chasm, with many tall, thick columns of ice anchoring it to the ceiling high above.  At the far end of the room, up on the wall, was a throne decorated with Troll skulls.  A huge set of thick black and red Ghoul armor rested on the throne, as if someone had taken the King's armor and posed it in memory of him.  "That's him alright..."  He glanced over his shoulder.  "Cynder, you stay back.  This could get nasty."

"O-okay..."  She certainly didn't want any part of this, backing up close to the door.

Spyro strode to the middle of the floor, then stopped when he heard something break.  The sound of fracturing ice met his ears.  Out of nowhere his reflexes kicked in and he dodged sideways, watching as an ice stalactite hit the floor right where he'd been standing and sank almost two-thirds into the platform, spider-web cracks dancing from the impact point.  Again, ice crackled, but this time it was from the far end of the room.  Two bright blue spots glared at him from beneath the Ghoul helm.  The armor slowly rose from the throne, ice chips skittering all over the place as it broke whatever moisture had frozen it to the seat since its last activity.  With a loud, rumbling roar it lunged from its seat, landing not too far from the purple dragon.  It slowly stood up, Spyro catching a glimpse of a small, skull-shaped crystal pendant hanging from a chain around its neck.  The two glared at each other, Spyro calmly standing there, sizing up the threat.  What stood before him was a huge troll, almost one and a half times the size of an adult dragon, covered from head to toe in thick black armor decorated with red embossments.  The eyes within the helmet narrowed, perhaps recounting his last fight against a creature of purple.  Raising one arm, it exhaled sharply, a stream of ice flying from the hidden mouth and forming a spiked shield on its arm.  Turning to its other arm it breathed again, a deadly scimitar appearing in its outstretched hand.  Spyro just stood there calmly.  

"Are you the Ice King?" he asked loudly, his voice echoing around the chamber.  "I am Spyro.  I know of your struggle against another of my color, but I do not wish to do you harm, unless forced to."  The Ice King just stood there watching him.  "There's a lot of armor here, has someone named Ripto been trying to disturb you?"  No answer or indication of hearing him.  "Can you even understand me?  If you can understand me, lay down your weapons, I do not wish to fight.  Let us settle things in a lordly fashion more befitting of your grandeur."

The King stood there silently, but finally made a move, bending over to set down his shield and sword.  Before he could drop them though, the pendant flashed dimly.  Spyro's senses went on full alert, something dark and powerful had just coursed through the room.  The Ice King paused in its motions, then stood up and roared at the ceiling before assuming a battle stance, shield held forward.

"You don't have to do this," Spyro warned.  The Ice King slowly stepped closer, sword poised for a strike once in range.  Spyro didn't move.

"SPYRO LOOK OUT!!!" Cynder shouted as the hulking undead Troll swung.  Spyro ducked under the blade, skidding between the zombie's legs and then hooking his claws into the ice to spin himself around.

"All I wanted to do was talk this over," he started, but the titan spun around, dragging its blade along the floor straight at him.  Spyro hopped up, then shoved off the flat of the blade, cracking it.  He spread his wings and flew around.  "Final warning, if you don't lay down your weapons I will take you down!"  The Ice King paused as if considering, then his head twitched sharply as if suffering from a tic in the neck, his armor ringing out from the sharp rap of his helmet against his pauldron.  With that he breathed on his sword, repairing the damage, then flung his arms wide with a loud roar, a forcefield of ice energy surrounding him.  Sharp bladed icicles formed in the air, pointed straight at the purple dragon.

What followed was a fast-paced spectacle of ice and fire Cynder couldn't even keep up with, they weren't just fighting face to face but indirectly too.  The Ice King would stomp his feet and send a wave of sharp ice shards along the floor, and swipe at Spyro to try to force him into one of the attacks, but Spyro would roll aside and spit fireballs to try to make the Ice King dodge right into the line of fire.  The chilled Troll was suffering a great deal of damage, pieces of his armor flying off at every impact.  However, the decrease in his armor increased his speed, until eventually he was an ice skeleton with only a few armor pieces hanging from his body, swiftly dodging Spyro's attacks.  Every time Spyro broke one of his weapons he'd replace it with a quick breath.  The room echoed sharply with fiery explosions and ice shattering and colliding.  The Ice King flung his arms apart with a loud roar, a protective field of magic defensive power surrounding him while more ice blades materialized in the air.  Spyro rolled aside and darted out of range.  Cynder was watching him intently from the doorway.

"SPYRO!!  Stop holding back and just finish him already!"

He chanced a glance back at her; how did she know he was holding back?  "I can't just yet!"

"Why not-LOOKOUT!!" she shrieked.  Something whizzed by Spyro's cheek and he jumped a bit, feeling it tear the scales.  Yelping, he leapt into the air, the rest of the ice blades crashing into the floor where he'd been.  

"I didn't want to do this but I don't have a choice now," he announced, his eyes glowing blue.  The Ice King roared again, forming another volley of blades and then slinging them at Spyro.  Spyro flung his paws out, the ice blades stopping and hovering in midair, vibrating under the strain of control.  Waving one paw to the side, the purple dragon shattered the blades into fine powder.  The Troll growled and breathed on his sword, forming it into a halberd, then flung the weapon at him.  Spyro's eyes glowed orange and he swept his other paw through the air, forming a spear of flame, then threw it at the incoming weapon, the two exploding in a cloud of steam on impact.  Jaws agape the purple dragon roared, beams of light shooting from his mouth straight at the undead monarch.  The lumbering monster cried out with a deep bellow, the light beams melting through its left shin and what few armor pieces it still possessed, save for its helm.  It fell to its knee from the loss of balance, then breathed onto its hand, forming a deadly spear.  As soon as it was materialized, another beam of light shot down the haft, vaporizing the frozen tool, a few thinner beams bouncing off imperfections within and lancing the King's ribs.  Spyro landed, the glow around him fading.  The Ice King snarled and tried to stand up again, bellowing so loudly the chamber rattled and icicles began falling from the ceiling.  Catching two of them, they flashed in his hands, forming a shield and a sword, ragged, labored breathing echoing under the dented helmet.

"You're not going to give up are you?" Spyro asked heavily.  His eyes glowed green, the platform shaking suddenly.  With a loud CRASH the frosted titan fell, his shield and sword shattering beneath him.  Panting heavily under his broken helm he glanced up at the purple dragon, just lying there staring.  The medallion around his neck flashed dimly again and his neck twitched, but rather than struggling to his feet, he shakily got to his knees, hands on the floor beside his legs, head bowed to Spyro.  The crystal skull flashed repeatedly, the Ice King groaning wearily, his body twitching here and there as if someone was pulling strings, but he refused to move.  He looked up at Spyro again, a low growl emanating from his throat.  The purple dragon sighed, then burst into flame again and exhaled sharply, breathing a stream of brilliant blue fire.  The icy monarch roared but remained seated, quickly melting under the heat, his armor clattering to the floor.  There was a very low-pitch but powerful thrumming howl of anger, the crystalline skull pendant shattering.  Panting a bit from the strain of the battle, Spyro's flames went out and he turned back to Cynder.  She had a strange look on her face.

"Spyro...why?"

"Why what?"

"He didn't even defend himself, why'd you do that??"

"He wanted to die."

She blinked in confusion.  "What?  How could you tell something like that?"

"He was fighting against himself.  Something was controlling him.  He wasn't trying to fight me.  When he gave up at the end there...somehow, I could just...tell.  I dunno how.  He seemed to be asking me to release him."  He stepped closer to her, but then winced and stumbled, grimacing with eyes clenched as something throbbed painfully in his head.

"You okay?" she asked, darting up to him.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine...think I pushed myself too hard.  Let's get outta here."  He glanced up at her, watching her leave ahead of him...not wanting to clue her in that his vision was dark now, as if everything was seen through a black veil.  Was this some sort of aftereffect of whatever evil power had been coursing through the room?  After a few steps though it cleared up.  "Must be more tired than I thought I was..." he mumbled to himself, feeling rather drowsy.  

"How do we get out of here?" Cynder asked as they passed through the enormous doorway of the throne room.

"Same way we came in."

"But the ice is all slippery, we slid down, remember?"

"I know."  Studying the ceiling of the grand hall, he spotted the hole they'd made.  "Cynder, climb on my back," he said as he laid down, lowering his wing.  She tilted her head curiously, then shrugged with her wings and laid herself over him, meeping and clinging tightly to him with her legs when he stood up and crackled under her, static electricity surrounding them.  

"Oh no not lightNEEEE-" she squealed and cringed when everything lurched around her, an incredibly uncomfortable field of electricity around the two.  It was only a split-second jolt from the hall to the cave entrance but she slipped off his back immediately and swooned a bit, shaking herself off.  "UGH I hate electricity it feels so WEIRD!!"

Spyro laughed and nuzzled her.  "Come on, let's get outta here."

"Where are we going now?"

"I'm taking you back to the Temple, first off."

She glared at him.  "You will do no such thing.  I'm not going back there without you."

"That's why I said I'm taking you there."

"Dumbass, I'm not letting you go off on your own like this, especially not to Mount Boysitbig!"

Now it was his turn to tilt his head curiously.  "How'd you know I was going there?"

"Well duh, 'molten stone' would be a volcano, I kinda doubt it'd be referencing a place like the Burned Lands.  And you're going to Tall Plains for the 'airy heights'?"

"Yeah, but I don't want you coming with me."

"And why not?  What's the issue with me tagging along?" she demanded indignantly, suddenly feeling rather hurt.

Spyro paused with his mouth open, about to reply, then stopped and looked away.  "Because...I...I don't want anything bad to happen to you...cuz, y'know, bad stuff happens around me."

She sighed and shook her head.  "Spyro, the whole reason the guardians took us in was because we're the elemental avatars.  We're supposed to be assisting you, for that reason.  Besides, what would I do at the Temple anyway?"

"Are you trying to avoid the other girls?"

She jerked back at that; he'd hit the nail right on the head.  "Whether I am or not, what am I supposed to be doing there while you're off adventuring and getting yourself into trouble?  What if something happened to you?"

He sighed and shook his head, turning to leave the cave.  "Alright fine.  But I'm going to the temple anyway to tell the elders what's going on."

"You don't have to," she said as they headed out into the open, snowflakes falling gently around them.  "That storm really was related to the Ice King, with it gone, these communication crystals should work again.  We can just report to them and head straight to whatever's next."

Spyro looked around, almost not hearing her as he studied the wintry scape.  Despite the battered walls and broken war machines here and there, it was actually rather beautiful and tranquil, especially with the wind-whipped drifts of snow forming what looked almost like waves frozen in place.  "I guess we could do that...let's get you out of the cold first though," he remarked, noting her shivering coming back.  "We'll head somewhere warmer."