Spyro (classic version)

Chapter Fifteen: Cynder's Dilemma

After flying into the glow, Spyro found himself in the strangest place he had ever seen. There was no ground, only endless space below him. Small rocks like islands floated by him, each of them seeming to have it's own sense of gravity, and in the centre was a large structure, a beacon of energy firing from it, and vanishing at a certain point, back into the real world. This was the dimension of Convexity.

At the structure in the middle was Cynder. She placed the red crystal on an altar before the Beacon, and stood back. The crystal floated upwards and drifted into the beacon, where it seemed to shatter, each of the fragments dissolving around it. As this happened, Cynder muttered "My master returns..."

"We're too late!" shouted Sparx suddenly. Spyro sighed, having lost the element of surprise. As expected, Cynder turned at the noise.

"Hm. Persistent little fella, aren't you?" she said, walking up to him. Spyro held his gaze, but couldn't help noticing something in the beacon. It looked like a pair of eyes, partially invisible like a ghost,  watching him. He couldn't help it, he turned to look at them.

Cold, deep, echoing laughter issued from the beacon, then the same voice said "Destroy him!"

Cynder attacked. Her bladed tail missed Spyro by inches. Spyro rolled out of it's way, his mind racing.

Cynder wasn't in control of her actions, but should he fight back? Spyro continued to doge attacks.

"What's the matter?" said Cynder, "Too afraid to fight?"

"I don't want to fight you, Cynder!" replied Spyro.

"A wise choice, but unfortunately it won't help you now," said Cynder. Spyro dodged another attack, still reluctant to fight.

"Cynder, you have to listen to me!" shouted Spyro, "He's been lying to you this whole time. He means to kill you!"

"You think you can talk your way out of this?" Cynder laughed.

"No, it's the truth! You're not yourself, you're under a curse, he's controlling you!" pleaded Spyro.

"And you think I am to believe that?" said Cynder. She dived at him, and Spyro, unable to dodge, was caught by the neck under her talons.

"Kill him, Cynder," said the cold voice, "End this now!" Cynder raised her other hand to attack.

"If you kill me," said Spyro, "There will be no hope for you."

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Cynder.

"You might have noticed you've only collected four elements, when there are actually five?" said Spyro. Cynder lowered her hand slightly.

"Yes, why?" she asked.

"Don't you understand?" asked Spyro, "You are the last crystal, he means to drain you to escape, that's why he's brought you here!"

"You're lying!" said Cynder, and for the first time, there was fear visible in her eyes. Spyro knew what to do.

"You know I'm not, Cynder," said Spyro, "Deep down, you know it's the truth."

For the third time, their eyes met, and this time, Spyro was determined to keep them locked. Once again, her form changed, looking friendlier, weaker, younger, and more afraid.

"No!" said Cynder, and Spyro realised that the cold voice spoke in sync, "No, get out of my head!"

"Cynder, it's not me who's in your head!" said Spyro. He leaned up and held her head in place, to stop her looking away.

"You need to remember!" he shouted. Cynder's now green eyes widened.

Images flashed through her head, memories long gone flooding back to her. For a moment, she was nothing more than an infant, chained up by a huge ape, who was moving her over a large pit. The pain she had felt kicked in, as real as it had been back then. There was a flash of purple around her, and she began to hear voices in her head. Her form changed, and became the gigantic, monstrous one she adopted today. She looked up, ready to serve her new master...

Back in the present, Cynder was screaming. She fought from Spyro's grip and reared back, shouting.

"No, no no no no no..." she was saying. The voice was no longer speaking with her.

"KILL HIM CYNDER!" shrieked the voice. Cynder stopped thrashing.

"No," she replied, and opened her eyes. They were still the kind green eyes Spyro had seen.

"What?" said the voice.

"I won't listen to you anymore!" she screamed, "You are a monster, evil and twisted, and you've made me the same! I won't follow you any longer!"

"No!" shouted the voice, "This is impossible!"

"Evidently not!" replied Cynder. She stepped closer to the beacon. Spyro lay on the ground, clutching his throat, recovering from the attack to his neck. Sparx flew down to meet him.

"I think you started something," said Sparx. Spyro looked around at Cynder, who was still arguing with the voice.

"This is your end!" she was saying, "Without my help, you can't escape!"

"Then let's make the most of it before you leave, shall we?" said the voice. Like with Terrador and Ignitus with the crystals, a bolt of energy, this time white, began to flow from Cynder into the beacon, draining her. She hunched over in pain.

"Spyro, go, run!" she shouted.

"You need to come with me!" he replied. Sparx looked at him in surprise.

"I can't," she said, "There's no where for me to go! Leave me Spyro, I'm not worth it!"

Spyro looked helplessly at Cynder, his former enemy, who was now giving her life to save him. He just couldn't leave her.

Something began to happen to her. She reared over again, and fell to the ground. When she did, she began to change. As she did when she and Spyro locked eyes, she became less terrifying, more innocent, but this time she didn't stop. She shrank so small that she was the same size as Spyro by the time she had stopped.

"She is just like me!" said Spyro.

"Come on, Spyro, this whole place is collapsing!" said Sparx.

"No," said Spyro, "I have to save her!"

"What?" said Sparx, "Save the beast who's been trying to kill us?!"

"That wasn't her fault!" said Spyro. He looked back at Cynder. She was being drawn closer to the beacon. Spyro leaped into flight and caught her just in time to prevent her falling into the beacon.

"Now we can go!" said Spyro as he passed Sparx.

"Right behind you, buddy!" replied Sparx.

They flew back through the tunnel of light. The thundering fury of the voice behind them could be heard, echoing through the portal, which seemed to be closing. Using the very last of his energy, Spyro pushed the three of them back into reality.

Having used the last of his strength, Spyro couldn't stay awake. His vision began to blacken, but before he passed out, he caught sight of a large flying creature coming to save him.

A note from me.

Ok so I know this is drastically different from how it actually happens in the game, but I wanted to put my own spin on it, and since they had both had a fight already, while it does work for the game, would just seem repetitive in a book. I also wanted Cynder to have a bit more of a character arc, since she is one of my favourite characters. I hope you guys can forgive me for changing things around so much.

BTW I know other parts of the story have been changed as well, the only reason I comment on this one is because I basically free-styled the whole chapter, whereas the events in other chapters are more or less the same.