FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 20

Boyzitbig the home of the Manweersmalls and what's more important the place where mine upon mine could be found inside the volcano's depths. Many of those mines were already explored and their riches mined fervently by the inhabitants of the Munitions Forge. The Manweersmalls practically knew the mines like the back of their paws, they knew where to find the desired metal, and more importantly what to do with it.

However deep down inside Boyzitbig were mines where even the moles were rare guests or couldn't be seen at all. These caves stretched probably through the whole volcano, hiding riches nobody could even dream about. Such caverns awakened mysteriousness, every now and then a stream of lava illuminated the tunnels, allowing those willing enough to take a peek inside the mines souls.

Most of the times these caves were shrouded in thick impenetrable darkness, effectively blocking the sight of many prying eyes, not even allowing to take a glimpse of the things that lay behind the black veil. A surprisingly deafening silence accompanied the mysteriousness, an eerie creepy serenity hung in the air, almost giving the darkness its own pulse of life.

However not all tunnels were like that, if from above a soul brave enough would venture down ready to face the mine's horrors it would find out that not everything is as it was supposed to be. If that soul would crawl into a very narrow tunnel, fell down through a still delicately chilly hole, passed through who knows how many tunnels, beaten who knows how many intersections, passed through a freshly created hole in the wall just to venture through another similar maze of caverns until it would find a tunnel with many wet stones stacked at its end.

In that moment the brave soul would hear an intimidating feminine roar which would even force the darkness to hide into its own hole. In that moment the brave soul would hear two more male roars and a one male shouting followed right after that feminine scream. It would hear the trepidation hiding behind those roars and shouts, it would be surprised to find these scared screams here in this place before it arrived. In that moment the brave soul would realize what courage is, it would realize that courage is not living without fear, courage is being scared to death and doing the right thing anyway.

Blood freezing shriek echoed throughout the whole mine which came from a cavern located some distance away from their recent hiding place, the cavern from where the shriek came from was so loud with the mix of hissing, shrieking and roaring that it was difficult to hear own thoughts.

Cynder closed her mouth, her Siren Scream ended the moment her lips connected, the swarm of bugs ahead which charged her was in panic, most of the critters were running blindly just to be far away from the terrifying dragoness while other enemies were paralyzed with fear. Cynder didn't waste time, she instantly dashed at the petrified bugs and sunk her silvery claws into the defenseless creatures. Greenish gore was shooting in the air as she kept jumping from one bug to the other, she didn't even realize that she was growling the whole time, fear mixed with the lust for vengeance pushed her fighter's spirit over the edge.

The whole cavern kept shaking as her three friends kept fighting with the bigger bugs somewhere up above, she could barely hear anything thanks to the constant shrieking roaring and deafening hissing all around her. Swarms of the little bugs were charging her from the surrounding darkness, she knew they had encircled her by know and are closing for the kill, yet she wasn't bothered by that.

At first they planned to leave the grounded creatures alone since most of the fighting they will do will be with the bugs and to challenge the hulking monsters they will have to use their wings. However she forced them to reconsider that option, who knows how many big bugs are hiding in the darkness, if one of the creatures will shoot them from the air they would fall directly at the swarm below, and it goes without saying that the bugs would make short work of the still dizzied dragons.

The moment the group agreed to her decision Cynder unhesitatingly jumped into the cavern and landed gracefully on the ground leaving her surprised friends behind her. She then turned around scanning the area around her, the hissing intensified, yet only a small portion of the bugs spotted her.

Without any second thoughts she roared, she roared such an intimidating roar that even startled her friends. In a moment's notice the hissing reached a deafening cacophony which was only intensified by the shrieking roars from the bigger bugs. It was enough to shake her friends back into reality, with war cries of their own the three males joined the fight.

As Cynder kept turning around she saw the swarm of bugs closing in, the critters surrounded her from all sides. Yet the only thing she did was to smirk, as she turned she noticed the familiar purple dragon from her dreams staring at her with his brown burning eyes nodding in approval. She didn't care, she was only focused on her enemies and the flowing dark addictive elemental within her, she felt powerful, she felt like she could wipe all of these creatures with a blink of her ominously flickering eye. The bugs will pay for everything they have done to her, she will rip them apart and she will do that with a broad grin on her snout.

Her arrogance led her to wiping out one of the portion of the swarm by paralyzing the creatures with her Siren Scream. The remaining swarm was about to reach her, but Cynder wasn't bothered by such trifles. The black dragoness instantly began channeling her Wind element and as she did so she jumped into the air. Her bones and veins were momentarily filled with whizzing air, making her light as a feather. She pressed her wings to her sides and began to spun around, kept in air by a magical force.

A howling wind immediately filled the cavern, dust, loose rocks, living and dead bugs, everything that was close to her was sucked by the wind that now embraced the dragoness. She turned into a Reaper, and she accepted her fate with great pleasure, with her Twister ability channeled Cynder began to move through the cavern while spinning wildly and hovering slightly above the ground. As every Reaper she sowed destruction, and she enjoyed it.

Rocks, debris, living and dead bugs were being shot in every direction as the destructive tornado passed through the whole cavern. Those critters who were close enough to her were sucked by the wind just to be hurled at the walls moments later, those bugs who found themselves exactly in the middle of the tornado were torn apart in seconds in display of flying gore, husks and greenish blood.

Die you horrible monsters for everything you've done to me, die you horrible monsters for everything you've done to my friends. Die because I want you dead, die you pitiful worms because you make me sick.

DIE!

*

A greenish blood splattered across her snout, Cynder licked her mouth and swallowed the blood down, it was delicious. She began laughing, together with the masculine voice inside her head, the greenish liquid still visible on her razor sharp white teeth.

Spyro pushed away from the big bug him and Flare were fighting and turned around, somewhat startled by the intensity of the howling chilly wind. He spotted his friend spinning wildly, hurling everything that stood in her path in every possible direction, by the looks of it she puts more energy into it than its actually needed.

He knew Cynder for her fighter's spirit and vengeful attitude when someone will provoke her, seeing as one of these bugs wounded he wasn't surprised to see her in such condition. He was surprised by the fact that the dragoness seems to take pleasure from slaughtering her foes. Maybe he is just overreacting, after all she has all the right to make the bugs pay for everything, yet no matter how hard he tried to convince himself he just couldn't shake off the feeling of misgiving. He only saw his friend enjoying such a killing spree when...

The whole cavern shook ruining Spyro's train of thought, he directed his light up and saw dust and some stones falling from the ceiling above. The manweersmall warned them about the risk of a cave-in if they try using any earth-shaking abilities, and an artificial tornado inside a mine surely counts as one. However they didn't really have a choice, besides they are not only the ones behind weakening the mine's foundation. The heavy steps and huge pincers slamming against the walls have to leave a mark, yet the cave holds, it seems the mine's foundations are more solid than the manweersmall gave them credit for. It would probably require something extremely big to slam against the cave's walls to actually send down the ceiling on their heads.

Speaking of earth-shaking abilities, from the dark came several blood freezing shrieking roars, in this chaos it was difficult to pinpoint from where exactly the roars came from, but Spyro was certain that it wasn't just an illusion, the shaking ground confirmed this, more of those big beasts are running towards them, ready to join the fight.

Spyro turned towards his opponent, better to take the bug down before the rest of them arrives. However it wasn't the monster that actually caught his attention but the dragon who was fighting with it. He saw Flare dodging under a swinging pincer, moments later the drake pushed away from the bug and stretched in the air, his fiery wings began to burn with more intensity. The growling dragon pushed his burning wings backwards as far as he could just to move them forcefully forward.

Spyro's eyes widened when he noticed that something was actually released from his wings. Two burning edged forms that looked like the sharp ends of a razor blade were sent flying directly at the bug. When they hit the creature the bug shrieked in agony as two extremely bad scorch marks appeared on its chitin husk, even from here Spyro could feel the stench of burning flesh.

Flare repeated his attack two more times, before his tongue lolled out, whatever he did seemed to tire him greatly. Just like Cynder down below Flare also put more energy into the attack that was actually needed, tearing through the bug's solid armor in a single strike was impressive but so reckless, there are more of these creatures out there and using almost all of the elemental energy just to kill one bug is just stupid. Now he will have to survive long enough for it to recover so he can use that trick again.

Spyro remembered Ignitus' fire trainings, how he spent days and months teaching him how to control fire, even if he isn't a dragon who has a natural connection with the element Spyro had troubles keeping a cool head during battle. It has to be even harder for Flare, he is a fire dragon after, a strange one, but still a fire dragon. If he would learn how to control that impulsiveness he would be a very powerful dragon one day.

Spyro's natural curiosity has awakened, he was intrigued by his new companion's abilities, he never seen a fire dragon doing such a thing before. In that moment he realized how unique Flare is, maybe that's why the purple dragons from his time, if they were any, kept a close eye on him. Whatever the case may be one thing was certain, there is much more to Fire than he thought. He could only wonder what else Flare can do.

The bug shrieked again, yet his time it managed to block the attack with its pincers, only one razor managed to find its mark. The beast tried to protect its sensitive spot, and it accomplished its goal but at the cost of one of its arms, it was completely fried, the arm looked like a dark coal. However the creature kept standing, Spyro wasn't really surprised by its resilience, yet even that won't help it.

He channeled his Earth Missile ability, a green ball of energy formed itself on Spyro's mouth, the moment it was released the ball exploded into four miniature earth missiles. The bug didn't expect it, what was previously hard to penetrate by using any kind of attack, now was completely fragile. The scorch mark on the creature's chest made it's armor extremely fragile, the missiles went through it like knifes through butter. The bug's shrieking ended abruptly, whatever vital organs it had were now most likely destroyed by the earth projectiles.

The combined effort of the two dragons sent the creature down, when it crashed with the ground with a rumbling sound it squashed some of the little bugs.

A shrieking roar, a very close roar. Spyro's instinct kicked in instantly, in moment's notice he channeled his Earth element, a giant swirling bomb and a slight glowing green chain appeared from his mouth. Spyro instantly spun around in the air, the green chain extended itself, straightening the connection with the bomb at its end. The moment the dragon turned around the bomb hit a huge pincer that was about to crash the purple drake.

There was a roar of pain when the swirling bomb threw the pincer away creating cracks on its surface, greenish blood started to leak through them. Spyro noticed a second pincer heading his way, this time however he doesn't have the time to strike it with the Earth Flail, the impact threw him away also. He ended his concentration abruptly and dashed towards the creature's wounded pincer.

There was a shrill whizz of air when the second arm of the bug cut through the air, Spyro sunk his claws into the creature's wounded pincer, exactly where the cracks were to get a good grip of it. The beast tried to shake the annoying dragon off but its efforts were futile. Spyro awakened his Electricity power, a cracking orb of energy appeared around the purple dragon, sending shock pulses through the creature's arm.

It didn't wound it but it was enough to freeze the arm in place, Spyro without wasting any more time began to ascend the arm with the orb still around him, he had to really put some strength into his steps to be able to penetrate the beast's husk with his claws. Just when he was about to reach the bug's shoulder the monster opened its gaping maw, seeing that it tries to suck him in Spyro momentarily leapt from the bug's arm to the side while spreading his wings and channeling another Electrical attack.

When he turned to look at the monster, Spyro released an Electrical Orb directly inside the bug's opened mouth, the stupid creature swallowed it whole. Spyro to quickly get away sunk the claws on his front legs into the creature's raised second arm, with the claws in place Spyro made a swing, let go off the arm and shot into the air right behind it just like a skilful acrobat would do by using a straight pole attached to a wall.

The speed he gained through that move allowed him to push away from the creature's quickly. As he turned around he noticed the bug making a step towards him, but then he heard a blast, like something would explode in a tightly closed container. The bug froze in place, a yellowish light shot from its mouth followed by some electric pulses, seconds later the creature's legs bent under it and it came crashing down onto the ground. Whatever vital organs it had, they were unable to withstand such strong electrical shock.

*

" Nice" Flared huffed in sincere awe as his eyes like saucers observed the crashing bug

Nice? You think that's nice? It was just a pure display of a weakling dominating over an ever weaker worm. You can do so much better, you will warm up on those pathetic disgusting creatures before the main event of today's carnage. You will show what true power is, you will create a moment he won't forget, a moment which he will see for the last time, a last glimpse of reality before you rip the worm of its pitiful life.

There is so much shrieking, there are many of them out there and I'm tired, I need a moment to recover. I won't be able to help, I need my energy. I need some time. Flare's white light revealed two more of the big monsters charging him, they are closing in very quickly. There is no time.

Help? You do not help, as well as you don't need rest, you are strong, there is more energy within you than you can feel. A moment is needed, a second and you will feel that power, a moment and they will be destroyed, every-single-one of them.

But-

There is no buts about it, this is who you are, you don't want to change it, you cannot change it, it's all you. Simple? Of course it's simple, this is your nature, now it's time to demonstrate to those worms what a REAL dragon can do.

Let me show you.

The exhaustion was suddenly gone, Flare could feel tremendous elemental energy flowing through him, it was so vile, so powerful and so destructive that a long time ago part of him wondered how he is able to withstand it, no creature should wield so much power. Now it didn't matter, today the cautious voice was no longer present, everything that mattered now was to take advantage of this energy and make the best use of it. Today is the perfect opportunity to do so.

Shrieking roars shook the cavern, yet it didn't bother the red dragon. Flare narrowed his gaze on the approaching monsters, two tiny flames flickered inside his eyes. He roared and started to fly headlong at one of the charging creatures while the fiery parts on his body spitted out intense red flames. As he moved forward, his burning wings left a tongue of fire behind him. If a complete random person would be in this cavern and look up he would say that a meteorite has just entered the atmosphere through an invisible crack in the ceiling.

As Flare pushed forward he noticed the purple dragon backing away while covering his squinted eyes behind his paw as if protecting himself from the sun's rays. For a moment the cave was illuminated with a bright red light, all of his amazed companions impulsively looked around the cavern taking mental notes about the number of defenders. Flare didn't bother however, they will all be destroyed anyway.

The bug stopped and adopted an intimidating pose while emitting a roar that clearly meant that it is not to trifled with. Flare didn't care, as he was closing in at the creature the drake pressed his wings to his sides, rolled into a ball and began to spin while heading directly at the bug, with the burning flames tightly embracing him. He looked like some sort of a fire projectile released from a catapult.

The bug prepared to crush the arrogant lizard, its pincer was already ready to deal the deadly blow, however it didn't go as the bug planned. The moment the drake turned into a ball he suddenly appeared near it, the flaming ball cut through air so quickly like it was blown by an invisible strong gust of wind.

The bug didn't even manage to swing its pincer as the flaming ball collided with its chest. The monster's shrieking was ended abruptly when the ball hit it and exploded in a display of shooting flames, when the fire died down slightly a charred hole appeared in the middle of the beast's chest. The bug's arms fell limply forward, its body followed soon after, as the creature's lifeless body fell forward, right behind it a flaming dragon raised in the air triumphantly.

Flare spotted the second bug, with a roar he began to once again fly directly at it, yet this time the flames that surrounded him were not so intense. The bug turned towards him and let out a furious roar before renewing its charge. This time however Flare didn't curl into a ball but kept flying directly at the advancing monster. When the creature was about to reach the drake in three or four more steps the dragon suddenly dashed to the side.

Spyro's eyes widened when that happened, he thought that Flare was making a dodge, but in fact he did something he never seen anyone doing in his life. When the red dragon darted to the side, a flaming shape appeared in his place. It was completely burning, resembling Flare's flying silhouette and it was headed directly at the charging bug.

The creature swung its pincer at the burning form, but instead of hearing its painful scream the creature only heard its own agonizing shriek. When the pincer hit the burning silhouette it passed right through it like through some extremely sharp blade, the pincer was cut in half, yet no blood erupted from the wounds as the intense heat emanating from the burning shape stopped the bleeding momentarily.

Seconds later the flaming from passed right through the bug's torso, just to appear behind it and explode, shooting flames everywhere. The bug froze in place, just like somebody would stop its movement by pressing the appropriate button on a remote controller. Then a barely noticeable green line started to appear through the beast's torso, moments later the bug's legs bent slightly, arching its body in a very unnatural angle. It was then when the upper part of the creature's body slid down towards the ground, while the lower part kept standing still for a while before the lifeless legs could no longer hold it. The flaming shape severed the creature in half, just as previously there was no blood, but the sight was still disgusting.

Flare didn't cherish his victory, he instantly raised vertically in the air, just when he was about to reach the ceiling he made a backflip. With his head directed at the ground he pressed his wings to his sides and began falling down, very quickly. Some seconds later he curled into a ball again, the flames that surrounded him once again roared with great intensity.

After some minutes there was an audible smack when the flaming ball hit the ground, for a moment there was silence. But then the cave began to shake, the ground crack around the place where Flare collided with it and then there was a roar. Walls of fire shot from the impact zone in every possible direction, the deadly obstacles ran along the ground frying everything that was on their path.

*

Cynder blinked, something was different, the air that howled around her spinning body was no longer chilly, the air around her became warm, even quite hot at some point. It was already hard to breathe in this mine but now with the warm air it was almost like choking, she had to stop her attack.

Her spinning vision slowly started to calm itself, to her surprise she heard some very audible agonizing hissing noises and surprisingly the sound of cracking fire. She quickly turned around, the surprising heat seemed to come also from the direction of the odd sounds.

Cynder gasped when she noticed the whole tunnel behind her illuminated by a very bright light, yet it wasn't what really shocked her. She saw four fire walls running through the tunnel in all possible directions, what of those walls was heading directly at her, for a moment she felt pity for all those little bugs that kept running trying to avoid the deadly fire.

The bugs seem to have some survival instinct, since those critters which survived her deadly twister weren't really inclined toward a quick revenge, seeing most likely that it would end with their death one way or the other. Instead of attacking the bugs that were hidden behind the dragoness' body decided to scatter, just to not end up fried by the hot wall.

Everything around her ran in every possible direction, hid in shadows, holes, anywhere but to be far away from the incoming blazing obstacle. Cynder on the other paw, started to run directly at the incoming wall, the escaping bugs didn't even care about the running dragoness, they ignored her like she was just a simple moving rock in their way.

With each step she made the air began to feel more dry, and the sensation of heat intensified, she had no idea how hot the fire wall actually is, but seeing that she had to squint just to be able to look at it meant that its temperature was quite high. A contact with it most likely meant a very quick and fiery relationship which would burn out even faster than it started.

Soon a very unnatural shadow was slightly growing under her tail, also a barely noticeable dark smoke, which at close inspection turned out to be a tiny swirling shadow began to emanate from the back of her upper thighs like some kind of dark mist. Just when Cynder was about to reach the flaming wall, a sudden pulse of gloomy energy shot through her body, the swirling shade blasted into the air from the back of her upper thighs like smoke from a recently fired cannon. The shadow underneath her grew momentarily to match the size of her body, just to suck her in moments later.

However the shadow kept moving towards the fire wall like she would still be running. The blazing obstacle passed right along the unnatural shadow leaving in its wake the sound of cracking flames. Seconds later, Cynder jumped out from it, the shadow disappeared. She turned around, a breath of relief escaped her throat as the heat was slowly vanishing with the fire wall drifting away.

For all the hate and misfortune her corruption brought her she was thankful for one thing- her powers. Even in her shadow form she could feel just how hot the wall was, if she wouldn't be able to sink into the ground and appear just behind the fiery obstacle she wouldn't be most likely able to avoid this wall. Just like the many small bugs hissing somewhere behind it right now.

Unleashing such a devastating attack while your companions are nearby is plain stupid, someone doesn't know what teamwork means. She turned around once more, and saw a fiery drake rising in the air, she didn't have to lay eye on him to know that Spyro would never do it, when this is over she will need to have a serious talk with Flare. Just like that. She wasn't even shocked by his unusual display of power, one who Is labeled a killer must have some unique skills nobody believed existed, she knows it from experience.

The fiery havoc lasted for maybe a minute or two, leaving burn marks on her scales and swarms of fried bodies in its wake. Yet even if the cave was filled currently with piles of burn husks the bugs were far from defeated, especially the big ones.

There was a roar she was so accustomed by now, and her light revealed a flying pincer from above directly at her. Cynder with her natural agility made a backflip, the huge arm hit the ground, cracking it at the impact and sending small stones flying in the air that cut her scales. The dragoness landed gracefully on her paws, and had to make another flip but this this time forward as the bug swung its pincer dragging it along the charred ground with a rumbling sound.

By that time her Phantom Fright ability was already ready, four ghastly orbs surrounded the raising pincer which later exploded with a strong concussive force. The bug staggered when its arm was forcefully thrown away with tremendous strength. The creature roared as if trying to voice its displeasure from this whole situation.

Hissing sound joined the roar as the still living small critters arrived at the scene. The noise seemed to be less intense than before, it turned out that the fire wall effectively thinned the bugs numbers. Cynder seeing what's happening remained on the ground on purpose, provoking the small creatures to attack her while she kept acrobatically avoiding the towering bug's attacks.

Soon her white light revealed that the small creatures were about to reach her, judging from the noise they were approaching from all sides. After another dodge, Cynder made two quick backflips and found herself a safe distance from the big creature but landed directly in the middle of the charging small bugs.

Yet her landing threw the bugs away, it gave her enough time to put her plan in motion. Cynder spun around and let out her shadow breath. It didn't suffocate her foes, just like she expected, the creatures are living inside a volcano after all, they must have a natural resistance to such choking smokes. There was a part of her that hoped that her Shadow Fire would do the trick, but her faith was futile.

The dragoness wasn't worried about that however, she demanded something else from her attack and her breath listened to her demand. Both her shadow attacks leave the same effect, portions of the shadow magic linger in the air coating the enemy's eyes, confusing them into attacking their own allies.

This is precisely what happened to the bugs, small clouds of shadowy smoke filled their even smaller eyes. The hissing intensified even harder when all of the small critters pounced at their opponent, and it wasn't the dragoness. Cynder just stood still observing closely the freshly brewed situation.

Agonizing and furious hissing, clamping of pincers, clanging of claws, all these sounds echoed throughout the mine with great intensity as bug fought with bug. The creatures didn't even realize that they were decimating their own numbers, yet this was only a happy turn of events, she used her power for another purpose and she has achieved it.

The big creature roared furiously as some of the smaller critters began to nip at its legs or climb up its limbs to close their pincer on more sensitive spots. The towering beast kept swaying its arms and stomping with its legs chaotically, throwing away the critters on top of it or smashing the ones that surrounded it. Yet no matter what it did the bugs just kept coming.

The big creature fought valiantly but in the end it had to acknowledge the superiority of its smaller, not so long ago, allies. Cynder had to jump away to avoid being crushed by the massive falling body, when it collapsed the entire mine shook and when dust shot in the air time seemed to freeze for a moment. It was hard to say if her spell worn out or the sudden realization of their deed made the bugs snap out from the confusion, when the bugs spotted the hunkered black dragoness they immediately attacked her. Cynder was expecting it, but this time she decided to rely on her claws, and save her elemental energy for later.

*

When another one of the big bugs fell Spyro realized that the battle is turning into their favor, he just needs to get rid of another of the incoming hulking monsters and then they will finally push through the first tunnel, and somewhere beyond it their destination called to them.

Cynder's arrogant stance in the fight effectively thinned the swarm on the ground, she even managed to fall some of the bigger monsters and she did it all by herself, mostly, not counting Flare's reckless area attacks. He never seen her fighting with such a vigor before, it was like something put more strength into her attacks, she acted like killing is done with ease. Her offensive posture was effective he couldn't deny that, but he still felt that cold touch of worry poking at his heart whenever he looked at her blood covered body.

His purple form wasn't in better shape either, red and green patches of blood dotted his entire body like black ringlets cover cheetahs furs, even if at first glance it seemed that there were lots of red blood patches on his body but in fact his wounds weren't that severe ,it was only minor deep cuts, and that is thanks to teamwork...with Flare.

Spyro couldn't shake off his amazement when suddenly they started to work together, falling bug by bug in a display of true and powerful draconic capabilities. He had no idea it the fire drake was helping him on purpose or it was just mere luck that they targeted the same enemy but it seemed to work. Yet whenever Spyro yelled to get Flare's attention the red dragon just kept attacking as if ignoring him, or not acknowledging his presence at all, as if he fell in some kind of blood rage. It seemed like he was the only one who kept a cool head during this onslaught which he would rather avoid, these creatures might be feral but they still deserve to live. It pained him greatly to see that his paws are tied and he can't do anything to prevent the slaughter, and every new bug, as the one which now appeared before him, proved that this fight will only end when one side is completely wiped out. Sadly.

The creature roared angrily, expecting an attack from above. This constant fighting showed the bugs are actually intelligent, they learnt something from their slain kin, they adopted to the situation, forcing the dragons to try different approaches every time they attacked. This bug in front of him was especially prepared to fend off probably every airborne attack, that's why Spyro with his fighter's instinct dropped to the ground.

In a moment's notice burning possessive energy embraced his body, he lowered his head directing his gold horn at the bug's let leg and charged. Comet Dash was activated, tongues of flame surrounded him, the burning force coming from his horns served like some kind of unnatural gust of wind, forcing the dragon's paw to run at extreme speed.

The bug didn't manage to react when the fiery from struck its leg, Spyro's ignited horns melted the chitin husk and went deep, the dragon could hear the crashing of a bone. The bug's leg cracked unnaturally below its knee just like a match, shrieking in agony it supported its painful healthy leg on its massive pincers.

When Spyro withdrew from the crouched bug there was an intense flash of red from above, Flare with an eruption of flame cut through the air, he looked like a fast moving comet which was headed directly at the left side of the creature's head, for a brief moment Spyro could notice the drake's horns, they were burning like some kind of devil's horns and his burning mane only added to the overall image of incoming destruction.

Flames shot everywhere when Flare made contact with the beast's head, Spyro shivered when he heard the audible sound of something very important fracturing. Charred chunks of the bug's natural armor, green blood and burned flesh flew everywhere like rocks after something really heavy would be dropped to the ground from a very high building. Flare pulled out and the bug's lifeless body dropped to the ground, greenish blood momentarily covered the ground, flowing in streams from the hole in its head.

Spyro took to the air, no matter how many fights he fought he will probably never get used to the sight of slaughter, especially when they are the ones behind it. He understood perfectly that death is a part of every fight, and where is Death there are bodies but even in situation like this there has to be a line somewhere, there has to be respect for your opponent, even the most hated one. You don't strike someone with more force than its needed, even in ending someone's life there has to be some measures, and it seems that his two draconic companions seemed to forget about that. So much blood and for what? For pure pleasure of displaying your dominance?

It is sickening.

Two more bugs appeared in his way, but Spyro decided to slip through them, Cynder and Flare can handle the situation, with much ease it seems. The bugs adopted a defensive posture as the flying dragon approached them, they prepared to strike, but before the creatures could swing their arms shrieks of shock filled the cavern when the dragon flew just past them.

Later when he pushed into that darkness, he could see a flash of red light, he didn't turn his head, the triumphant roar was enough for him to understood what has transpired. Spyro spotted an edge of a rocky wall, just past it another cavern starts and somewhere deeper their destination lies. Spyro narrowed his gaze, It's time to close this book finally.

The tingle intensified, in that moment he knew he was closing in on his destination, the edge of the wall was nearly there, one flap of wings, second, third... he is in. When that happened Spyro's eyes shot wide open when he spotted a big pincer appearing from behind the wall with its claws already ready to welcome the surprised embrace.

The damn bug had ambushed him, he never expected it and now he is going to pay for it, yet then something he forgot about happened. A strong dull pulse sounding like a single beat of a huge heart cut through the mine. The shockwave was so strong and so unexpected that it flung the surprised dragon directly at the wall.

Spyro didn't even feel the pain as the sharp rocks pierced his scales, the sight of a sharp pincer passing just mere inches from his flank was enough to kill all that pain momentarily. The big bug roared after realizing that its plan failed, Spyro pushed from the wall, but then another strong pulse pushed him towards it again with an audible slam.

With a corner of his eye he noticed the bug swinging its extended pincer sideways, ready to swat him just like some kind of a purple fly. Spyro was unable to recover from the strong shockwave, his body didn't adjusted itself to the magical pressure, he instead raised his head and released an Electric Orb directly at the wall just into the upper left part above his horns.

The orb exploded, it created a shockwave of its own that shot the purple drake towards the ground at an sharp angle. Spyro groaned as the electric pulses of his own attack shook his body, the electric shock paralyzed his limbs to a point where he no longer cared about the huge pincer slamming into the wall just above him.

Just when he thought that he will crash into the ground another side pulse struck him and flung him at the wall once more. All of the waking muscles cried in agony.

" Come on, not now" Spyro hissed " Control it dammit!" he urged himself

This time the huge creature flung its opened pincer vertically at the drake, running it alongside the wall. Seeing what is happening Spyro pushed from the wall again. Another pulse, another collision, but this time it wasn't such a strong one, focusing on the tremors running through his bones Spyro managed to prepare some of his muscles for the unnatural strain.

When he tried to push once again, trying to avoid the incoming pincer a strong gust of wind cut the air, if not for the artificial hand holding him he would have to fight in the air to keep his balance. The waft was so powerful that it managed to stagger the bug, then from the darkness a black dragoness emerged and attacked the bug, soon after a fiery drake arrived.

The screams and the roaring didn't bother him in the slightest, he was only focused to get himself unglue from this wall. With difficulty he pushed away, another pulse, but this time it only shook his body. Another shock tried to get him but this time his body was more than prepared for it, instead of feeling like a solid blow from a muscular drake the pulse felt like a delicate caress of a feather. There is no stopping him now.

The battle kept on going as he pushed forward ignoring every bug that threw itself at him, leaving all of the bugs that attacked them at the mercy of his bloodthirsty companions. With each flap of his wings the tingle grew more intense, excitement and surprise together with it. The reason behind his excitement was the fact the soon this is going to end and for the first time in his life he will see a true time portal cracking with energy.

He was surprised for an entire different reason, he was closing on his goal, tunnel after tunnel, he expected them to be filled with the yellowish bugs, both small and big. But it turned out that either they are hiding from him preparing another unexpected assault or there is only just a scarce portion of them left. There were some bugs here that tried to attack him but there were only small groups of them. In that moment he realized that perhaps most of the colony lies dead behind him, it almost felt like genocide to him even if he knew that the creatures are not a part of the current world it still filled him with even greater disgust.

After some time he spotted it, he didn't have to rely on his almost paralyzing tingle to realize that, in the distance he could see the wall glowing with an eerie bluish light. Just one more turn and he will be there, one more turn, just around that corner and he will be...

...disappointed. Spyro froze in the air, the whole excitement gone instantly, he had spotted the portal and it was...lousy to say the least. In the middle of the tunnel, on the ground just few inches from the wall there was a swirling mist with a glowing blue frame around it, he had no doubt, it was one of the Veils, but it wasn't what he expected!

The strong pulses that ravaged his body made him imagine the portal like some giant tunnel to an another universe, cracking with different colorful sparks, shaking and weakening the walls around it, emitting such a powerful sound that it would sizzle any sound sensor. He imagined the portal to something truly awe inspiring not some...some... barely visible steam emitting an even barely hearable hum that sounded like a lazy moaning. With a discontent sigh Spyro made his way towards the portal.

*

Flare dropped another bug with a triumphant roar, the stench of its charred body fueled his rage. Weakling all of them, and as every weakling they met only one fate that is meant for them- death. Yet this was just a warm- up, this was a foreplay before the main act which will only end with a single satisfying roar. His yellow eyes flickered when he spotted a black tail disappearing into the glowing tunnel. The dragon smirked it, he will make a last run around the mine just as he was told to do, roleplaying is sometimes a part of the main act also. He can go for that, but after it, it is time for a really rough game.

*

" This is it? Sparx asked not hiding his disappointment while he hovered next to his brother staring at the portal

Spyro sighed " Yep this is the Veil"

" I can't believe it, all this trouble for a trapped fart?"

" Yeah..." the dragon muttered, he wouldn't use exactly those words to describe the portal but it's as good comparison as any probably.

Sparx extended his finger towards the mist, but when he was about to reach it he curled his forefinger and withdrew it quickly with a snort of disgust.

" Can't you do something with it?"

" Like what?"

" I don't know, you are all the powerful dragon here. Inhale it or something"

" Gosh Sparx!" Spyro exclaimed wincing in abhorrence, his brother's comparison clearly ringing inside his head, waking up his imagination...

" ...shut up!" the drake finished his sentence and shook his head to get rid of the horrible image

The dragonfly shrugged " What? I'm only trying to help. Try it maybe it's not so bad, I bet it smells like roses..."

" Seriously Sparx, cut it out!"

The dragonfly rolled his eyes " Whatever Princess"

" Sup bitches!" Cynder exclaimed in a childish tone and pushed herself in between the two brothers " We rocked that party didn't we?" she threw quick glances between the two brothers.

" Hey Cyn. Take a sniff" the dragonfly said casually

" Sparx!" Spyro admonished his brother before he cut his stern gaze at the dragoness next to him, for the first time after that turmoil inside his head he didn't feel nervous around her " Enjoyed yourself back there?" he asked firmly

The dragoness turned around and narrowed her gaze on her purple friend " What's with that tone?" she asked irritated, the playful tone gone from her voice

Sparx threw his arms " Guys! Not now! Can't you see what an important discovery this thing in front of us is!?"

Cynder with a snort turned towards the portal and cocker her head " That's it? it looks like a trapped-"

" Don't finish" Spyro cut her off

The dragoness craned her neck forward and examined the veil from up close, the blue shimmering light bouncing off her snout " You sure this is what we are looking for?"

The purple dragon didn't say a thing, he just raised his paw, it was shaking.

She threw a quick glance at his raised foreleg " Ok then" her head returned to its natural pose " What now?"

Spyro sighed, his eyes never leaving the portal ahead, they are so close and he just sits here and does nothing

" I have absolutely no idea"

" Remember the portal where we found Flare? Why this one looks different? Any ideas?" she looked her two male companions

" No clue" both brothers replied

The three of them stared at the portal until Cynder clicker her claws on the ground " Maybe it works like the ones in Warfang, just ran your paw through it, we'll see what happens then"

Spyro nodded, realizing that this was an excellent idea, he extended his paw but he only raised it in front of his snout before halting its advance, the disgusting thoughts once again returned " I... I don't think it's going to work"

Sparx shook his head " Dude, just imagine it's a steam, you know, like from hot water"

The purple dragon wriggled his shoulders as if cold chill ran through his body " It's only steam..." his paw moved forward " It's only steam" once again, the purple foreleg moved forward

"... a very hot and stinky steam... coming from an a-"

Hearing his brother's words his imagination renewed its work, Spyro withdrew his paw immediately " I won't do it!"

Sparx laughed " Come on, bro I was kidding"

" No!"

Cynder rolled her eyes and grabbed Spyro's paw soon after, the purple dragon only manage to emit a stifled gasp of surprise before his paw found itself in the mist. Realizing that it wasn't smelly or anything like that, Spyro more relaxed this time began to sway his extended foreleg back and forth, ripping the mist but nothing else than that. He withdrew his paw.

" What are the chances that it's broken?" Spyro asked, just for the sake of asking

" Probably as high as Sparx' IQ" Cynder said casually

Sparx let out a faked laugh before ending it abruptly " Funny"

*

Flare landed quite a safe distance behind the group, so they wouldn't hear him, with a quick glimpse on his heated claws he began to approach the purple dragon.

*

Cynder kept scratching her choker thoughtfully as she tried to come up with an idea. Moments later the scratching stopped " Hey listen, remember when you said something about the apes appearing and vanishing suddenly back in the forest?

Spyros head kept bouncing slightly up and down ash he traveled back in time to that very moment, realizing already what she is trying to say " You think there was a portal there somewhere?"

" Why not? It fits, something appeared that shouldn't be there. You sensed it, that's a confirmed fact, you can do that."

" But if there was a portal there, why I didn't see it?"

" Maybe it was hidden? Who knows what makes those thing tick, they can pop anywhere for all we know. Now focus and relive those moments again, maybe you opened it but don't realize it"

Spyro followed, his friend's advice, he could feel the gnawing anxiety from that time, the thick darkness covering the forest, that strange tingle. He almost remember his every step, he following that tingle like some sort of a luring call, he only stopped when...when

" The bush!"

Flare froze at hearing the unexpected outburst, he was just mere meters from his goal, he can't fail now, the element of surprise is everything. They don't see him, they all stare at that strange mist, and he prefers to stay invisible until he strikes.

Both of his friends looked at the purple drake curiously

Spyro turned towards them with excited eyes " I remember! There was that bush there, it looked like something was moving there, so I hid and waited for it to appear. I waited and waited but that thing just didn't want to come out, but it had to be still there since the twigs were rustling all the time. There had to be a portal there!"

Cynder nodded thoughtfully " Ok... let's assume it looked like this one. What did you do next?"

" As I said I waited and waited, but whoever was there didn't want to come out. So thinking that someone is taunting me I tried to ignore that person but eventually I got provoked and jumped into the bushes. I had to do it, I so desperately needed to get..."

The purple drake narrowed his gaze on the portal "...to get in there" he muttered and instinctively extended his paw towards the mist

*

Flare already sneaked behind the purple dragon, nobody could see him, they were all enthralled by the portal. His paw already was in the air, one swing of his hot claws and the game begins, gentle at first but then all that rough fun starts. There was a sudden blue blinding flash that startled him and forced his muscles to flex.

*

When the red dragon opened his eyes something was different. His eyes immediately traveled to the place where the mist once was, the steam was now replaced by a big portal in the shape of a zero with a bluish frame. There was a single image presented by the portal, it looked so realistic that Flare felt like he was staring into a mirror reflecting a completely other world, it was like a window to an another place.

In that mirror he saw a dark cave, just like this one, it was coated in a delicate colorful light coming from the many different strangely looking stones inserted into the walls. It was wide, high, HUGE is an appropriate way to describe it. It was mostly empty, if not for one shape, he narrowed his eyes, it looked like...

Oh no

" T-t-t-that's a b-b-b-bug" Flare stammered

The three companions acted like they never heard him, which was most likely true since they didn't even notice his natural red light ceasing its illumination, they were all staring at the portal with wide eyes. Spyro's extended paw froze in midair.

All of them were staring at the moving shape, a slithering shape to be more precise. The creature behind that window was nothing more than a brownish worm, it was massive, it looked so fat, it was surprising to see it moving in the first place. Yet it did move, and with great dexterity in fact, its massive body coiled and uncoiled itself like some sort of spring. Eventually it turned towards them, they could see the creature's gaping round mouth opening, sets of razor thick teeth danced inside it, its mouth was slightly bigger than the maw of the big bugs. They could see the beast sucking bits of loose rocks as it emitted a deaf roar.

" Wow" Sparx huffed " Now that's one ugly worm." The dragonfly craned his neck forward " If you look closely you can see similarity to Cynder" he straightened back again " At least now we know from where you got your looks from"

Cynder observed the growing form of the worm intently " Shhh, or someone might hear it"

The dragonfly smirked and concentrated on the portal again, his smile slowly began to vanish as he found that the shape of the worm was getting bigger and bigger with each second

" It can't see us right?" We are the only ones who can see its private parts?"

Spyro shrugged " I guess" he muttered uncertainty

Sparx shook his forefinger " Now, now Bro" he admonished him with a facetious tone" That was not what I wanted to hear, I don't want to listen to uncertainty, I want to hear confidence. I want you to say that you are completely sure that it can't see us and its slithering precisely in our direction is pure coincidence"

" M...maybe their portal is closed, just like ours previously and there is something just standing there which it likes to eat..."

The dragonfly snapped his fingers with a smack of his lips " Eat is not a very assuring word right now" he kept his facetious tone of voice on " Confidence Bro, confidence"

Cynder observed the growing image, she could spot dirt shooting from the walls as the worm's massive body accidently slithered alongside the walls " What makes you think that it's closed? The bugs got here somehow"

Sparx pointed an accusing finger at the dragoness " Now that is what I didn't want to hear!" he exclaimed, fear clearly hearable in his voice right now

" I don't know the rules of this game Cynder" Spyro replied, swallowing a lump of anxiety stuck in his throat

The could see the worm parting its maw again to emit another roar, strangely when that happened the portal seemed to hum a little louder than before, drawing the attention of the three of them instantly.

" Close it" Cynder ordered when her green eyes returned to the image of the worm, it was bigger with every second. A familiar chilly sensation ran through her spine, fear.

Swallowing hard Spyro extended his paw, not really knowing what to do, he gasped when his claws sunk into the portal like into some kind of tingling water.

The worm from the mirror hit accidently one of the walls with the back part of its massive body, the walls coughed up dust. The whole portal flickered.

" Right. Now." Cynder ordered again, emphasising the words as best as she could

Spyro's eyes kept jumping between the slithering worm and the frame of the portal, he strained his muscles, frown of concentration covered his snout. Nothing seemed to happen.

" Spyro...."

His pupils kept shaking, worm, frame, worm, frame. He began to sweat, his heart began to race. Another deaf roar, the portal hummed louder. Worm, frame, worm.

Dear Ancestors it's so close.

Frame, worm, frame. He groaned in effort, his whole body began to shake.

Worm, frame, worm.

" I can't do it!" he emitted a squeaky yell, as a frustrated child close to crying and dropped his paw.

" Focus!" she barked at him

With another groan of effort he pushed his paw forward, his whole body strained automatically. His mind traveled back to the forest, to the fight with the apes, to the moment where he had sincerely enough.

Oh how he wished he was back

The creature roared, the portal hummed threateningly, his blood froze, his muscles relaxed.

" I can't!" Spyro yelled, letting out all the accumulated air in one single shout

" CLOSE IT DAMMIT!" Cynder roared

Her commanding roar shook his body, there was something strangely familiar to it, strangely scary, before he knew it his paw was already back into the portal. The worm hit another wall, the whole Veil flickered, Spyro shut his eyes and focused, sweat began dripping from his chin. His mind raced back to the fight with the apes, to that single thought.

Oh how he wished he was back

A tingle ran through his body, that seemed to connect every nerve inside his body, the portal began to ripple but this time the worm didn't cause this. He felt the power of Time coursing through him, he felt that strange energy. The portal hummed, he didn't care, not this time, when he is so close. He felt himself drowning into that tingle, like his whole body would be turning into a jagged shock pulse. He felt himself being pushed through some freshly made connections inside his body, he flew, and flew until he appeared in a big chamber with a gold heart in it, it was pulsing with life, yet there were parts of it covered with rust.

He was sent flying directly at the vital organ, when he struck it sparks of electricity covered it, the heart began to beat faster and faster as if waking up from deep slumber, the rust started to fall off, but then to his surprise it slowed down and eventually returned to its normal pace. In that moment he knew that he was too weak, too weak to remove the rust completely and release his full potential.

He felt himself slipping, a strange force was pulling him back through the freshly made connections, the chamber with the heart disappeared, the only thing he could see where some flashing images as he was being forcefully pulled back. With a loud gasp Spyro returned to reality, his eyes opened, the tingle was gone.

" Run" he found himself saying emotionlessly

This one almost depressed word was enough for the group, all three of them in complete unison dashed to the side while flapping with their wings forcefully. The portal hummed and hummed, until there was a blue flash and a terrifying roar filled the cavern, all of them looked behind their shoulders to see a huge massive and extremely fat worm jumping through the portal while snapping its gaping maw shut as if expecting to catch its prey. The creature leapt directly at the wall and collided with it, its roar wavered for a moment at the impact.

The whole cave began to shake violently, somewhere in the distance they could hear a loud rumbling sound and crashing of huge stones. There was an audible cracking noise as a huge cut split the ceiling above them, rocks kept falling down like solid raindrops. The cave was already weakened by their battle from earlier, the collision the worm caused tipped the scales, the mine gave up finally, the scenario the manweersmall warned them about is happening- a cave-in.

The worm didn't care, its roaring was renewed with deep guttural sound, the creature turned with surprising grace and began to slither towards the group, its body kept swaying like that of a snake while its mouth opened to enormous sizes, it was capable of swallowing the three of them all at once.

" TO THE HIDEOUT!" Spyro let out a terrified commanding roar and instantly flapped his wings with great strength, gaining speed instantly. Cynder and Sparx followed in his wake.

Their hiding place would be a perfect escape route, the caves there are small, there was no chance that the worm will fit there.

The worm kept roaring while it chased them, for such a big creature it was extremely fast, inch by inch it was gaining on them. The group however was fueled by breathtaking fear, it felt horrible but it pushed their bodies to their limits, there was no pain, no exhaustion, just sheer survival instinct. In other circumstances they would most likely lose the creature, but here it was difficult, the whole mine was shaking, it was dark, and to top this rocks kept falling everywhere.

After some time it got only worse, at some point they kept flapping their wings but they were hardly moving, Spyro looked around confused, he was pushing forward with all his might but everything he managed to do was to jerk slightly a few inches forward.

" it's sucking us in!" Cynder screamed from his left side

She was right, suddenly there was a powerful gust that seemed to wrap itself around their hind legs and pull them back, the dragons groaned and jerked, fighting with all their strength to not give to that force. They didn't move forward, but at least their powerful wings prevented them from falling completely into that beasts gaping maw, the creature was only pushing them towards it by mere inches. The jerking draconic forms in front of it weren't giving up that easily, but it will get them eventually.

However not everyone had the strength of the draconic wings. Sparx' eyes shot wide in horror when at some point he completely froze even if he was flapping his wings quickly, in that moment a cold finger touched his heart as he realized what is happening.

" HELP!" the dragonfly screamed at the top of his lungs as the powerful gust coming from the worm's mouth began to suck his spinning body in.

Cynder jerked her right forepaw and clenched her fist, but the spinning dragonfly slipped through her grasp. Spyro seeing what's happening with great effort swung his tail, his brother's body cut the air as a speeding arrow, yet driven by such a force that only siblings could understand he did the impossible, he wrapped his purple tail around the dragonflies' body and began to push forward with even greater intensity.

Spit shot from Sparx' mouth when the tail wrapped itself around him ungently stopping him in a very rough manner, yet he didn't care. He was saved and that was all that mattered, he patted the purple tail appraisingly. However the joy was gone when Sparx noticed that the worm was gaining on them and they are not moving, on the contrary, they are being pushed backwards.

" Do something guys!" Sparx yelled staring at the gaping maw with wide eyes

" Suck on this" the black dragoness hissed

Spyro's eyes went wide open " Cynder don't! You don't know if it's going to work!"

It was already too late, Cynder spread her wings to the sides and straightened up, the powerful gust dragged her backwards instantly, yet she remained in a still posture. A boiling green glob was pushed out of her mouth, which for a brief second remainedThe dragonfly rolled his eyes " Whatever Princess" hanging in the air. The moment she craned her body forward and her wings began to flap again, the glob shot backwards like a greenish cannonball, the dragoness had to duck her head to avoid the boiling projectile, yet a tiny drop of lethal venom fell on her head, there was only an audible hiss as it evaporated, one drop was too weak to hurt her.

The clueless worm crushed the glob in between its teeth, thinking that its some kind of tasty treat, the moment its sharp razors pierced the boiling ball streams of venom shot in every direction. The worm shrieked agonizingly, the sucking breath ceased, the dragons renewed their escape, yet the worm didn't stop. It only opened and closed its maw several times before emitting another guttural roar and started to slither after the dragons with even greater ferocity.

Spyro pushed with all his might, his muscles were filled with even more vigor as the trap that held them back was gone. Sparx however wasn't that much happy, he kept staring at the worm and now even at the shape of a black dragoness flapping her wings fervently in front of it. His heart skipped a beat when he noticed the creature was gaining on her.

" Bro do something! It's going to eat her!" Sparx shouted at the top of his lungs

Spyro impulsively looked behind his shoulder, his brother was right, her bravado caused her to lose the essential meters of advantage. If he won't do something this is the last time he will see his friend, he has to stop the worm, literally. He spun around, and began to hover in the air, he could see Cynder's green eyes growing in shock.

" Wha-"

Those were the only three letters coming from her he could understand, everything else was a dull echo. He once again awakened his previously dormant ability, he could feel his Time power sucking out his energy quickly, he definitely needs more practice to return to top shape, but for now it will have to do.

Spyro began channeling his elemental energy, but the moment the first surge of energy crossed his body he thought better of it. This thing is massive, there is no chance he can stop it with ordinary attacks by his own. He began to look around for a way out of this situation, in that moment his eyes were dragged to the ceiling and a wall connected to it. The shaking cavern made short work of the bonds that hold rocks together, only a delicate nudge is needed and they all will come going down, and the hideous worm was just below them. Spyro released two earth missiles and the loose rocks, there were only two loud crashing sounds as his projectiles were destroyed at the impact and nothing else, but he knew it was only a calm before a storm, and the fading Dragon Time energy from his body will soon arouse that storm.

There was a hollow whizz, everything started to return to its normal pace, Spyro could only hear a word of two coming from Cynder's mouth before the tunnel was filled with a deafening rumble. The rocks from the wall above gave up, they kept falling down in piles like some kind of small avalanche, the huge worm roared angrily when the piles of rocks landed on the lower part of its body, trapping the creature under their weight. The monster roaring furiously began to thrash viciously, it swirled from left to right chaotically like some kind of fat snake with its tail trapped.

Spyro grabbed Cynder's paw and pulled it behind him, dragging her confused eyes to look at him " Don't look, we need to get out of here!"

The dragoness followed her friend, after perhaps two flaps of their wings she froze in the air as strong realization hit her, filling her heart with extreme worry. In that moment she realized something was amiss

" Where is Flare?!" the dragoness exclaimed, guilt clearly palpable in her voice, she was the one who told him to scout out the tunnels one last time after all

Both foster brothers began to look around, only now realizing that their companion is missing. There was a rumbling sound accompanied by a struggling roar, they turned to look in its direction just to see the bug slowly pulling out free from its trap.

"Guys, it's breaking free!" Sparx yelled and pinched the purple tail nervously, to get the attention of his brother " Let's move!"

Spyro swallowed, even if he has some disagreements with the fiery drake they still managed to form a good team when Cynder was unconscious. The bug kept thrashing fiercely, Spyro realized that there was nothing they can do now for the red dragon, he could only hope that Flare in his panic will try to find his way to their hideout, with luck they will meet there.

" Come on Cynder, we can't stay here. You know how Flare reacts to worms, I'm sure he is in our hideout already"

The bug roared, some rocks rolled on the ground and its body pushed slightly forward, it was obvious that it will soon break free.

" Listen Cynder" Spyro kept going seeing her uncertainty " Flare can take care of himself, you've seen it that with your own eyes. For now there is nothing we can do for him, we need to take care of ourselves. We need to move, and we need to move now, the worm will soon pounce at us, if not it the falling rocks will finish us for sure if we are going to stay here. Let's go!"

The black dragoness threw an angry and guilty look at the worm, blaming it for all their misfortunes, when things started to finally look good it had to ruin everything. He hates being powerless.

" Fuck" she hissed sadly and reluctantly renewed her escape. Spyro followed suit.

Both draconic figures shot forward maneuvering effectively through the crumbling dark tunnels, before long a rumbling sound and a furious roar broke through the crumbling cacophony of noises, the worm broke free, much earlier than any of them wished.

" It's coming!" Sparx yelled horrified

They didn't really needed to hear him say it, both dragons already knew that, yet his words triggered another chilly shock shooting through their spines. Their made their way through tunnel after tunnel littered with the bugs corpses, the falling stones took care of some of them, creating a rocky grave atop of their carcasses which will most likely never be found again. The cave-in made scape all that much more difficult, the worm was gaining on them quickly because of this, when the dragons had two avoid the already fallen or still falling obstacles the creature just moved through them like a troll.

Then happened something they partly expected but didn't want to think about it, the whole mine shook fiercely as the ceiling in front of them gave away and split apart. Tones of rocks were sent flying down, some of them like huge boulders. The rocky debris created such a thick impassable barrier in front of the two dragons in mere moments, blocking their way back.

It all happened so fast that the dragons had only seconds to adjust to new situation, Cynder thanks to her natural agility adjusted her body properly, stringing every possible muscle to the brink of their capabilities. The dragoness made a sharp turn, knowing that her purple companions is slightly less skilled in the air Cynder wrapped her tail around his front paw, dragging him behind her.

She yanked her body so that her belly was directed at the wall, with her paws dangling just inches from the rocky barrier she lowered them down and began running along the wall, before jumping off of it moments later. Spyro followed her every move, he wasn't surprised by her quick reaction, they were shackled to each other for many moons, during fighting they can understand each other without words.

The worm chasing them had no companion to help it adjust its body, the creature pounced from the corner behind them and collided directly with the freshly created barrier in front of it. The cave shook violently, more stones fell on the beast's body. However the creature wasn't discouraged by this small delay, it instantly began to slither after the two drakes with a furious roar, scratching its hide along the wall the dragons used as a jumping platform.

As they progressed further more and more stones kept falling down causing more of the previously opened passageways to be impassable. As they kept flying onwards the worm was once again catching up with them, Spyro never stopped looking for a way out of this mess. It was during this search he noticed the familiar archway, now completely blocked by rubble, a sign they are not far from their destination.

Just next to it he spotted the even more familiar wall with the openings inside them. He whistled gaining Cynder's attention, he nodded towards the wall and instantly began flying towards it, the dragoness followed him without protest, clearly understanding the signal and the moment of changing leadership.

When Spyro was about to enter one of the smaller opening he pressed his wings to his sides, this simple landing technique allowed him to touch the rocky ground with much grace without losing the previously accumulated speed. As the both dragons kept running through the narrow passageway they could hear a guttural roar bouncing off these tight walls. The worm instead off slithering its way around the blockade decided to go right through it, with a roar it pounced directly at the wall.

The shaking caused both dragons to totter and bounce off the narrow walls with painful grunts, yet no matter how bad the situation got they kept pressing forward. Another shake and another throw at the walls, the shudder made Spyro topple on a lose rock, yet with luck he managed to retain his balance. When the next shake came they were already out of the tunnel.

For a moment there Spyro thought to turn around and release his Convexity power through the opening directly at the nagging worm, but then he thought better of it. The attack would most likely finish the job but with the trembling mine it was just not worth the risk, one sudden strong shake and the powerful beam would hit a wall that would cause all the surrounding rocks to fall down in tones, most likely burrowing them below them. Not to mention that the attack would weaken him greatly, which in this situation meant nothing else but suicide.

He had no idea if it was the panic or simply his sharpened intuition that made him get back to the place he scouted not so long ago all by himself, whatever the case may be, it worked and it won't be long before they will finally hide from this ugly creature.

When a barely noticeable crack appeared on the wall's surface which coughed out dust like a deep wounds coughs blood Spyro decided it's time to get a move on. They flew through the now familiar tunnels where piles of bodies were strewn about, big and small, all of them belonged to the bugs. The purple dragon looked around the scene with disgust in his eyes, wondering if he really is the good and best hero people take him for. If they could see the trail of bodies and blood he lefts behind him they would change their opinion.

"...and he " Spyro sees Prawlus' claw pointing at him " A dragon who caused all of this, a dragon who was supposed to bring peace to the Realms, instead of that he gave us Malefor and it doesn't matter that he defeated him, damage was already done. He is no savior, he isn't a protector, he is a harbinger of destruction, wherever he goes Death follows in his wake..."

He was right, the damn arrogant cheetah was right. He is no hero, perhaps he fights for his people, perhaps he tries to protect them but what is the cost? His enemies bodies lay strewn on the ground like torn ragdolls and he just keeps pushing forward thinking that there is no other way, thinking that he has to do it for the better future. He is no hero, he is a harbinger of destruction, and most people put him as a role model for their children. Open up your eyes you damn fools, he is a blight for this world wrapped in a beautiful present box, open it and you release hell staring at you with its presumably innocent purple eyes.

Savior my tail, I'm just a killer with motives, but still nothing more than just a killer. Nobody should be able to wield so much power, maybe that's why purple dragons are born so rarely, because the world needs time to digest the crap they leave behind. He has no golden heart, people just pretend to not see the dark flaws scarring it.

Open up your eyes you damn fools.

" FLARE!"

Cynder's excited scream made him lose his train of thought, with a blink of his eyes he rose his gaze from the carnage below just to notice a reddish illumination in the distance that only one type of creature he knew emitted. As they progressed towards the red light discouragement and resignation crept into Spyro's heart. It seems Flare thought about the same escape route as they did, he was already there near the tunnel which led to their hideout, which was now blocked by tones of rocks which the red dragon scratched and removed one by one as if trying to dig his way through.

" Flar-" Cynder's shout was interrupted when she had to duck under a stone that the fiery dragon threw behind his shoulder

" Flare!" she renewed her call the moment no rocky projectiles were sent flying. The dragon didn't react, he was still scratching at the stones.

Cynder noticed a quite a big pile laying already at one side of the tunnel, he had to be digging for quite a while, probably not even realizing that there was absolutely no chance he will push through. The way to their hideout is blocked.

" Flare!" she called his name again, still no reaction. She ducked under another stone and quickly dashed to his side.

" Flare listen-" she didn't finish her sentence when her green eyes focused on the red dragon's snout. His mouth kept moving as if chanting an incomprehensible prayer. The slits in his eyes were bigger, almost round, hid behind a veil of blurriness and horror.

There was another scratch and her eyes immediately were drawn to the source of this sound.

" By the Ancestors, Flare..." she muttered with palpable pity ringing in her voice.

The rocks the dragon was scratching were colored with streams of crimson blood, his blood. His paws were pleading profusely from the cuts his constant scratching caused to his legs. The dragon's claws were solid, but they also have their limits. She winced when she heard and noticed a bit of his claw breaking on one of the stones.

She grabbed one of his paws firmly, he stiffened at the touch " Flare stop, I beg you" Cynder mumbled pleadingly, wincing at the sight of his soaked paw.

" it i-i-i-is c-c-c-coming" Flare stammered with a barely hearable voice as if voicing the same lien for like a hundred time

Worry shimmered in her eyes when the horror never disappeared from his gaze " Flare we need to go"

" it i-i-i-is c-c-c-coming"

" Stop..."

" it i-i-i-is c-c-c-coming"

" Please, stop..."

" it i-i-i-is c-c-c-coming"

She spun him around so his snout was directed at her

" I said STOP!" she roared almost at the brink of tears.

" The guilt will kill you"

" it i-i-i-is c-c-c-coming"

" What's going on?" Spyro asked the moment he entered the tunnel

Cynder dropped the red dragon's paw, it numbly touched the ground. She wiped one of her eyes and retreated farther into the tunnel.

" He...he's in shock"

" it i-i-i-is c-c-c-coming"

Spyro began to approach the fiery drake " Hey Flare we need to go right now. This tunnel is blocked"

" it i-i-i-is c-c-c-coming"

The purple dragon jerked his head back at the sight of his eyes almost devoid of life. He saw such similar eyes before. Spyro put a paw on his shoulder and shook him delicately

" Flare, do you hear me?"

" it i-i-i-is c-c-c-coming"

Another shake " Flare?"

" it i-i-i-is c-c-c-coming"

The whole cavern shook violently, rocks fell from the ceiling from the cavern behind them. A familiar scary roar echoed throughout the crumbling mine.

" Guys I don't want to ruin your reunion" Sparx yelled, still safely wrapped in his brother's tail "...but we better go, our friend is about to break free"

Spyro shook the fiery dragon more violently " FLARE?" he growled

" it i-i-i-is c-c-c-coming"

" Don't make me do this" he hissed

" it i-i-i-is c-c-c-coming"

" Last warning"

" it i-i-i-is c-"

Flare never managed to finish his stammer as he received a solid punch to his cheek that threw his head to the side making his teeth rattle and blood gush through his mouth.

" We-need-to-go" Spyro pronounced each word slowly, so the dragon could understand the tone in them. He shook his paw, he really put much strength into that punch and strangely he didn't care. This strike felt surprisingly pleasurable, like he just wanted and need to do it for a very long time. He could sense his heart and pride grinning mischievously telling him that the red dragon's halted attack on him and the tremor in his head from earlier weren't the only reasons behind his aggression. For an unknown reason Spyro's purple eyes ventured towards Cynder for a brief moment, a smile tucked itself on the corner of his lips when he noticed her shocked expression.

Flare slowly turned his head towards the purple snout, the blurriness no longer visible in his eyes. He ran his paw along his lower lip and lowered it to look at it. Blood. He raised his gaze, he wasn't that much surprised.

" You punched me? he asked emotionlessly

" Yes" Spyro replied unhesitatingly

Flare lowered his gaze to look at his paw again, just to raise it soon after " Thanks"

Cynder approached the two dragons still slightly surprised by his purple friend's ferociousness " There are moments when I see a completely different Spyro in you"

The true Spyro turned towards her " And?" he asked with an arrogant smile on his snout

The dragoness gently wiped the blood from Flare's lip " I don't like him" with that she made her way towards the exit of the blocked tunnel

Spyro's eyes never left Cynder's moving body, his smile was long gone by now, and the stabbing pain at his heart was so powerful, it was like a thousand knifes would be piercing his heart at the same time, he has never felt so much pain before.

The mine shuddered forcefully, roar echoed throughout the cavern as upper part of the worms body finally broke through the blockade. It roared furiously ready to renew its chase after its escaping dinner, but when it pushed forward the weakened wall crumbled burrowing the lower part of its body under many rocks. The worm roared again and began to wiggle chaotically, stones and dust were sent flying in every direction as it slowly, inch by inch slipped from its prison.

" What now?"Spyro asked as he finally gathered enough courage to stand right next to his female friend

" We fly, and hope to find an exit somewhere" Cynder replied

" That's not a plan!" Sparx protested

Another roar, the worm slithered out of its trap even more farther.

" We don't have many options" the dragoness answered him, hardly swallowing the lump in her throat

Flare craned his neck and looked at the worm, the moment he did that his eyes widened and his wings clutched to his sides. He then began to shake and in complete terror shying away until his back touched a wall.

Cynder turned towards her red friend and placed a concerned paw on his shoulder while blocking the view ahead of him. His yellow eyes focused entirely on her " Just fly Flare, and don't look back" with that she tugged him gently urging him to move forward.

When the dragon was close to the edge of the tunnel he leapt into the air and immediately spun around so his back was directed at the worm and dashed forward into the unknown darkness. The two dragons followed in his wake.

For a moment they flew unhindered by the roaring worm, they only worry was to dodge the falling rocks and blocked paths. But moments later there was a loud rumble and an extreme shake as the creature broke free from its prison. The ceiling above them gave up under the pressure after the strong tremor, all of them with a gasp of fear quickly dashed in every direction to avoid the falling piles of rocks.

After the dust settled down all three of them renewed their escape, expect Spyro.

" Wait!" the purple dragon shouted, gaining the attention of his two draconic companions.

He pointed upwards with his claw " Up there!" he yelled and instantly flew inside the freshly created hole.

All of them wondered why didn't they thought about this sooner, the only way out of this hell hole is going up, they will eventually have to arrive in Munitions Forge, there was just no other option. The two remaining dragons followed their purple leader, hoping that the worm won't be able to follow them up here.

The upper level didn't differ from the lower one, this was just another set of extremely wide caves, they didn't really have the time to admire them since just in front of them the ground cracked and the huge worm burst through it. it could jump, it seems, that was very bad news.

The three dragons momentarily spun around and started to fly in the opposite direction, then something they never paid much attention to happened. The volcano wafted another dose of fresh air throughout the mines, in that moment they realized instantly where they have to go, if there is a way out of this mine it has to be in the place from where all the air comes from. Boyzitbig is a volcano, which means it has to have a way to let out all this lava and they knew how it looks like, and most importantly they knew where it leads- to Munitions Forge.

Since all the mines are located inside the volcano itself there was no doubt they all are connected, and that point of focus has to be exactly in the spot where all the magma boils ready to be erupted. That's their way out, and the slowly ebbing gusts of fresh air will be their guides.

Remembering from where the air blew out the group made every effort to push themselves into that direction. Unfortunately for them the worm seemed to become smarter, or it was just annoyed of the constant cat and mouse game. When they made a turn around the corner the worm didn't follow them, instead it pierced a wall just in front of them.

Screaming the three dragons straightened up and started to chaotically flap their wings to dispose all the speed. The worm roared and pounced at the surprised drakes, its gaping maw went directly at Spyro. The purple dragon's eyes widened seeing the dark and bottomless gullet, when the teeth were about to snap around his form a powerful gust of wind blew him to the side and at the nearby wall with a loud thud.

The teeth clamped shut, but to the worm's displeasure they only pierced the air, it turned its attention to the dragon who was so arrogant to prevent it from feeding. Its gaping maw opened at the sight of a black dragoness hovering in the air, the worm roared and pounced at the drake just like a snake that would snap at its victim.

Cynder's natural agility allowed her to avoid the enormous maw, but it wasn't enough to avoid the massive worm's body entirely, she bounced off the creature's hide and the collision sent her down towards the ground, she rolled on the rocky floor for a while before stopping eventually with a groan of pain.

They could hear the worm's furious roar from behind the wall it just pierced, yet it wasn't the thing that caught Spyro's attention. From the tunnel the creature created the dragon could a delicate red light emanating from it, his heart flared up with hope, either it's just another mine full of strange metals or it's the escape route for all the magma. There was only one way to find out.

Spyro turned his head in search for his companions, Cynder was on the ground slowly pushing herself up, Flare however hovered in the air, completely frozen in place. There was a roar, instantly Spyro felt as his instinct is scratching at his mind, pointing him in the right direction.

" Flare!" he shouted at the top of his lungs and dashed towards the paralyzed drake.

Cynder was now on her paws and turned her head towards her screaming friend. Rumble, roar and then a very strong tremor, the wall next to her crumbled, she had to jump out of the way of the incoming rocks, but that wasn't the thing that scared her to death. The worm pounced from the upper part of the wall and headed directly at the frozen red drake, finally discovering an easy prey, she could feel the warmth of its massive body as her eyes trailed its huge dexterous form.

Spyro wrapped his paws around the drake, completely ignoring the heat emanating from his body that slowly charred his purple scales, it had to be the shock that triggered his defensive reaction. The creature missed them by mere inches, Spyro could hear its loud snap of teeth behind him as he sent himself and his fiery companion towards the ground.

Cynder instantly ran to their rolling friends, Spyro eventually rolled from the top of Flare's body and screamed in agony from the burns on his body. It had to be the rough landing that shook the confusion from the red drakes eyes that clouded his eyes, the heat emanating from his body instantly died down as the gears in his head began to work and connect the dots. He instantly joined the black dragoness who was pushing the purple dragon on his legs.

" I'm so sorry!" Flare exclaimed at seeing Spyro's burns

" Not now Flare!" Cynder interjected through Spyro's hisses of pain " Help me!" she shouted concerned and extremely angry as she was lifting up her purple companion , but not at the red drake but at the worm that hurt both of her friends.

" Let me feed!"

" Let me feed!"

" Let me feed!"

Cynder heard a strangely familiar male voice ringing inside her head the moment Spyro's scales pressed to her magenta ones.

" Let me feed!"

" Let me feed!"

" Let me feed!"

A stinging sensation ran through her neck, as if something was poking at it through the inside of her choker. She scratched it impulsively and a sting hit her shoulder that made her hiss. She shook her head.

Before she even realized it they were already in the air, as if her mind split the task, while her conscious was dragged towards the strangely familiar voice her body was moving on its own. There was a shake, the worm didn't return, it seemed it had to get stuck somewhere and now was fighting to break free.

" Let me feed!"

" Let me-"

" I'm ok guys, let's move, I can see the light in that tunnel" Spyro wiggled his way from his companions helping paws, the pain was insufferable but he didn't want to let them know about it.

" Hurry" he began to fly towards the freshly created tunnel

Cynder observed him closely, her heart pounded in her chest, this is the dragon who she fell in love with, caring and supporting of others.

" Spyro!" she yelled after him

He stopped and turned around " Cynder this is not the ti-"

His voice trailed off as she planted a soft kiss on his cheek, this was the worst moment for this but she didn't care. She smiled lovingly seeing his wide eyes.

" This is the Spyro I like" she winked and flew inside the tunnel. Spyro watched her every move.

" Bro stop daydreaming! Move your ass the worm is behind us!" Sparx yelled from behind him, still safely wrapped in his tail.

The stabbing pain was gone, with a strangely wide smile he started to follow his two other companions.. All the thoughts about Cynder were once again flashing through his mind, his heart began to race, he felt as he could move the mountains if he only wanted to.

" BETRAYAL!"

Fuck you. Shut up.

It was gone, whether it was good or bad he didn't care for the time being.

The group made their way towards the glowing tunnel, yet they weren't the only ones who decided to take that path, Sparx' terrified screams and the roaring confirmed that once more they have their unwelcome stalker after their tails. This path of shaking caves was much more different than the rest of them, mostly for the fact that the stale air here was considerably warmer, almost hot. This discovery meant only one thing- lava, and with lava comes their means of escaping this hellish place.

The tunnel was long, very, very long, as they progressed through it they realized that the reddish light wasn't coming from the pool of lava somewhere in the center of the volcano but of the many streams of magma leaking through the cracks in the walls around them. Even if their hope wavered they still pushed forward, it was still better than flMsoNormaly around in the dark mine witho/put even knowing where to go.

The worm chased them relentlessly and eventually caught up with the flying dragons. At first it directed itself at the purple drake on its left, the beast opened its gaping maw, coiled its body and shot like a spring directly at the drake.

Spyro following his brother's hysterical yelps pushed himself towards the ground. The sound of snapping teeth and the warmth of the worm's slippery body brushed above his horns. The creature collided with the nearby wall, yet it didn't break it, these walls seemed to be more solid than anywhere else in the mine. A delicate stream of lava splattered across its body, the reddish magma hissed on the worm's hide burning itself through its layers of protection. The creature emitted a guttural painful noise but still acted as it was unhindered.

The worm pounced crosswise, this time aiming to devour the black dragoness on the other side of the tunnel. Cynder pushed up, her back scratched the ceiling above, the roaring creature stopped below her on the wall. Just as before the rocky obstacle coughed out its sizzling blood.

The worm p class=roared but still pressed forward, with an extremely quick coil of its body it sprung at the ceiling. Cynder sharply jerked to the left side, the worm bounced off from the ceiling like some sort heavy roaring rock before it hit the ground with a loud thud. The collision with the ceiling didn't trigger any lava leaks but it seemed that the foundation above was weaker than the one below. Rocks started to fall from the ceiling, some were flying directly at her purple friend, Spyro quickly dashed towards the safety of the upper part of the tunnel.

" Let me feed!"

Cynder grunted when Spyro's scales brushed against hers after his sharp ascent, the slight collision made her totter in the air.

" We have to think of something" he panted, the constant running had to take its toll finally " We can't outrun it"

The dragoness scratched her choker, but this time it had nothing to do with thoughtfulness

" Just keep flying, I'll stop it"

" What?" Spyro blurt out shocked" I'm not leaving you here!"

" I'll be right behind you, just keep moving, I need some space" she scratched the choker even more forcefully, the nagging stinging behind it was infuriating

" What are you going to do?"

She reached behind her choker and withdrew a black glassy stone, when she looked at it strange white glyphs flashed for a moment on its surface.

" I don't know" Cynder replied with sincere honesty " Just keep moving"

Spyro threw a quick glance at the strange stone in his friend's paw, then looked at the slowly recovering worm just to with a sigh aim his eyes forward directly at the red natural illumination from ahead which was quite effectively blocked by the form of a reddish drake in the distance.

Cynder hovered in the air and stared at the recovering worm while not even realizing that she clenched and unclenched her paw making her claws to delicately brush against the stone's surface.

" You want to feed?' Cynder muttered, the worm never leaving her sight " Then you will feed" with those words one of her claws sunk into the stone, its surface cracked momentarily releasing a puff of dark smoke through the created holes.

Nothing happened. The worm prepared itself for another pounce.

Then something weird occured, her shoulders ,eyes, back and head began to sting, also she felt like something would grab her very essence and tried to pull it out from the deepest parts of her soul. With a painful dull scream she arched her body forward, there was a white flash and only the irritating stinging remained.

Cynder couldn't believe her eyes, the white light materialized into a form of a dragoness that she could swear looked like her in her adult years, the blinding dragoness headed directly at the worm. When it struck, the creature let out an agonizing howl, the artificial dragoness exploded, dark ring shot through the tunnel at the impact.

Cynder didn't feel anything as it passed through her, she focused her dumbfounded eyes at the scene ahead. The dark ring hit the walls around the worm, the rocky structures couldn't withstand any more beating and gave up, lava shot through the holes.

The worm's howl intensified, it was being devoured by an unknown force and the leaking lava, it thrashed fiercely trying to slither away from the danger but it was already too late, the magma has already eaten through the hide on its lower body. Moments later the worm's howls ended abruptly when the thick reddish substance progressed further and devoured the creature, the magma only burped like a well fed person and the creature was gone.

Yet it didn't stop on that, the lava kept pouring into the tunnel, the constant unending stream pushed the magma forward down the tunnel, towards the dragons, yet it was moving slowly, Cynder had no doubts that it won't threaten them.

Then suddenly an icy finger touched her spine when she heard a agonizing familiar male scream behind her, as she turned Cynder could feel the finger tracing down her spine. When her spin was complete the invisible freezing hand reached her Lumbar vertebrae and paralyzed her in spot. Ahead she saw Spyro dropping to the ground, his screams were so terrible that they squeezed tears from her eyes. When the dust settled from his impact her awareness returned.

" SPYRO!" Cynder yelled at the top of her lungs and the paralyzing feeling was gone only to be replaced by the sound of her pounding heart. As she towards her fallen screaming friend she saw a glowing yellowish shape slipping away from the safe embrace of his purple tail. She could barely take a breath, her inhales wavered, she wasn't that terrified in her entire life.

" What happened?!" she yelled when she stopped at her friends side, not even trying to dispose the speed as she was landing, long scratch marks a sign that she used her claws like some sort of hooks to be able to slow down, fresh blood lines clearly said that a dragon should never land in such a way. She didn't care.

" I don't know!" Sparx shouted as he was circling is brother, he was just as terrified she was.

Spyro screamed again, his chest arched forward just to moments later slam his back on the ground, his purple paws were closing and opening themselves chaotically on his gold chest scales as if trying to catch and hold something back that a mortal paw was unable to touch.

Cynder grabbed his paw and squeezed it tightly, while examining his body, she ignored the pain in her leg when Spyro's paw gripped it with such a strength that it almost squashed her foreleg

" What's going on!?" she sobbed

" I don't know!" Sparx yelled again, his own display of anger wavered with worry

" PAIN!" they could hear Spyro utter through his painful screaming, his body arched up once again before falling down seconds later. He wriggled on the ground like an inpatient hatchling.

" Lava?" Cynder blurt out between tears and searched for any burn marks, there weren't any " Lava fell on him?"

Sparx shook his head " I don't think so, he just dropped to the ground, like a lighting would hit him or something"

Spyro screamed again, Cynder jerked back startled. It was then when she noticed the slowly intensifying reddish illumination on the wall ahead. She turned her head just to see the lava closing on their position.

" We need to get him out of here!" she shouted and leapt into the air, the dragoness wrapped her paws around Spyro's wriggling body and began to push up with grunts of struggle. However his purple body was lifted just mere inches from the ground before it dropped down, Cynder tried again, grunting she began to push with all her feminine might, but the result was the same. She just wasn't strong enough.

" I can't lift him!" she sobbed defeated

She began grunting again, tears were flowing through her closed eyelids, Sparx tried to help but even their combined efforts were futile. Cynder with a groan of sadness began to look around the tunnel, they need another male, but he was nowhere to be seen.

" FLARE!" she cried, literally, her pleading feminine shriek echoed throughout the tunnel

Flare froze in place when he heard his friend's shriek vibrating from the walls, the horror filling his soul was pushed back down, replaced by something more powerful, a feeling he was never truly familiar with. He spun around and determined began to retrace his path, fear won't stop him. Moments later Flare spotted the black shape of his friend trying to desperately lift Spyro from the ground, just behind them he could see streams of hot lava, almost ready to swallow them. He pushed even more fiercely.

Cynder lifted her watery eyes when she noticed Flare approaching them

" We need to get him out of here! Flare I beg you! Please help!" she cried

There was something in her cry that his heart couldn't bare, he felt a massive hand gripping his vital organ and vocal cords, he just couldn't utter a word. He momentarily got to work, he couldn't watch her cry, the sight was killing him, if saving a purple dragon will make her happy he will do it, he will do everything to make her happy. That's what friends are for right? At least that's what he heard.

Flare lifted the somewhat less screaming dragon from the ground and began to fly in the direction from which he came " Come on, I saw an exit there!"

Cynder wiped her eyes, the terror filling her heart slightly weakened

" Thank you" she sobbed sincerely

The exit Flare mentioned wasn't far from their position, they reached a open space with an ocean of bulging lava below them. More openings dotted the sides of the tunnel, leading to even more unexplored mines. They didn't care, Cynder's eyes immediately went up, she knew where she was, somewhere up there is Munitions Forge. In other circumstances they wouldn't have to hurry, the volcano erupts, but there is a very long pause between each eruption, it all may change when the lava she released will reach the pool. Boyzitbig will have to get rid of the excess of the magma, and there is only one way the volcano can do it.

As they pushed up Spyro's screams slowly ceased, now only painful hissing remained, the worst part was over. In the distance they could see the delicate forms of rails and moving wagons, they are so close now. The lava reached the poll down below, the volcano began to shake, ready to blurt out another stream of lava. A bulging sound below them meant that is exactly what happened.

The air was growing hotter and hotter together with the image of the thriving mole city up ahead. Flap, flap, flap, beating of wings so quick that it almost sounded like thousands of bats would follow them. The artificial lights from the many lamps blinded all of them, but they didn't care. Cynder was already prepared, when they reached the tall metallic wall she unleashed her Wind element, the strong gusts of wind dented the barrier. With the obstacle weakened the two dragons began to ram into it.

One, two, three...

The lava was almost near them.

Four, five, six...

The heat was unbearable

Seven, eight...

And the wall gave away, the dragons thanks to the momentum shot inside the Manweersmalls home, the moles exclaimed in panic and shock when the three dragons and a single dragonfly collided with a rail and rolled on the ground soon after. They were even more surprised by the lava shooting from the freshly created hole.

Cynder didn't care about the people slowly starting to surrounded them, she spun on her belly and crawled towards Spyro who was laying on his back panting heavily.

" Spyro?" she asked with eating worry

" I'm ok" he huffed

The dragoness exhaled a long wanted breath of relief, exhaustion finally taking the reins. She dropped her front paws and her chin on Spyro's belly forcefully, making her friend jerk and gasp for air.

" Don't you ever do that to me again" she whispered and turned her head to look at him, while heaving her chin still pressed to his torso " You hear me?"

He raised his head to look at her " I can do that" he smiled

" What happened exactly?"

Spyro sighed and impulsively wanted to rub his chest but when he felt her paw there he instinctively jerked his leg away " I... I don't know, I never felt so much pain before, it was like...like something was tearing my whole life away through closed wounds. I...it hurt"

Cynder took a wavering breath " I think I did that"

He could hear the guilt in her voice " No, you saved us, you stopped that worm. A little pain was worth it. Thank you"

She didn't buy that, but also didn't want to dwell on it. Spyro's alright and that is all that matters.

" A Veil huh? Who would have thought?" she changed the topic for her own peace of mind

" Yeah..." Spyro muttered worryingly

" I just wonder why the bugs didn't pass through it in more numbers when they could see it"

" I don't think they could, I only started to feel the portal when that strange white ray appeared out of nowhere. If that ray somehow strengthened the portal..." he shook his head " You know what that means?"

Cynder sighed, the answer was so obvious

" No rest for the wicked"

End of Book II