Blossoming Love

Chapter 7

"Uh...Cynder?" Asked Spyro

"Yes?" Replied Cynder

"Can you get off? You're hurting me." Said Spyro. At that, however, Cynder simply pressed harder, and Spyro winced as a result. He said,

"Ok, this isn't funny!" He then attempted to get up, but Cynder pushed him right back down.

"Cynder! Knock it off!" Yelled Spyro.

"Why?" Asked Cynder, releasing a light laugh from her closed mouth. She then brought her snout to Spyro's left shoulder, and parted her jaws to reveal her fangs, which were a color that they had not been before. They were usually pure white, but they were now tinted a pale green color.

"Cynder, stop it!" Yelled Ember. Shortly after that, Gale burst onto the scene, and said,

"Sorry about that, it took me forever to get everything organized, and...Well what do we have here?"

"Gale! Something's strange about Cynder!" Yelled Ember.

"Get her off of me! She better not bite me!" Yelled Spyro.

"Why? I'm just having a bit of fun." Said Cynder. However, she was suddenly kicked off of Spyro by a large green dragon.

"Terrador!" Exclaimed Spyro in a relieved tone. Indeed, it was Terrador.

"Fun? That's a good way to kill someone!" Said Terrador.

"What is?" Asked Ember.

"Didn't you see her fangs?" Asked Spyro.

"Not really." Said Ember.

"They were tinted a very pale green. It looked to me like some kind of poison. The only questions are where did it come from, and how can she keep it on her fangs without doing serious harm to herself?" Said Terrador.

"Another question is why would she do that?" Said Spyro as he got up.

"I know no one who would know the answers to any of these questions." Said Terrador.

"Well then, I guess we have no choice but to force it out of her." Said Spyro, turning to Cynder, who struggled to rise from her fallen position.

"I..." Started Cynder with heavy breathing, followed by a light cough of blood. She then finished,

"I...I don't have to tell you anything!" Suddenly, Spyro ran toward Cynder, who disappeared in a flash.

"Cynder...What's happened to you...?" Asked Spyro as the flash faded. Ember and Gale ran to Spyro at that point.

"Spyro! Are you alright?" Asked Ember.

"I'm fine, Ember." Replied Spyro.

"You see? I knew it was a bad idea!" Yelled Ember.

"This was not her own doing, Ember." Said Terrador.

"Really?! How would you know?!" Asked Ember.

"Watch your tone, young lady!" Snapped Terrador, which shut Ember up.

"As I was saying, didn't any of you see it?" Continued Terrador.

"See what?" Spyro and Ember both asked.

"I did see a strange look in Cynder's eyes. Honestly, it looked to me like bloodlust." Said Gale.

"Exactly. However, not just that. There was also something strange around her neck." Said Terrador.

"When isn't there?" Asked Gale, who was then conked on the head by Ember, who followed up by saying,

"I highly doubt he's talking about her choker."

"You're correct, Ember, I'm not." Said Terrador. Suddenly, Ignitus flew onto the scene, and in an alarmed tone, asked,

"What's happened here?!"

"Something's not right with Cynder." Said Terrador.

"What's wrong with her?" Asked Ignitus.

"Well, in a brief summary; poison, bloodlust, collar, that's about it." Said Sparx, who had just come onto the scene. Ignitus shook his head, and asked,

"Could anyone please elaborate on this?"

"Hey, wait! How did you know, Sparx?" Asked Spyro.

"Me? Oh, I was, um..." Started Sparx.

"You were eavesdropping, right?" Asked Ember.

"Huh? Oh, no! Why would I do that?" Asked Sparx.

"Anyway..." Interrupted Terrador.

"Yes, Terrador?" Asked Ignitus.

"When I arrived here, Cynder was on top of Spyro, barring her fangs, which looked to be coated in some sort of poison. When I knocked her off of him, I could see a look of bloodlust in her eyes, and there was a collar of some sort, other than her choker, around her neck. There was something emanating off of it, though it was hard to tell what." Explained Terrador.

"Whatever was coming off of the collar, it looked evil." Added Spyro.

"This can't be good. It sounds like something the Dark Master would do." Said Ignitus.

"Well, what course of action do we take about this matter, Ignitus?" Asked Terrador.

"I...I honestly don't know." Said Ignitus

"Well, we must think of something." Said Spyro.

"You're right. We must think of something, but what?" Asked Ignitus.

"Ignitus! Terrador! We have on our hands a complete conspiracy!" Said Volteer, who was currently flying toward the group's current location.

"What's wrong Volteer?" Asked Ignitus.

"You must accompany me back to the village and examine the situation yourself to be able to completely comprehend what is at hand! Make haste!" Said Volteer.

"Whoa whoa whoa! Can someone, anyone, please run that by me again?" Asked Sparx.

"He said there's a problem at the village, and we need to hurry back." Explained Spyro.

"Can't he ever just say so?" Asked Sparx. The group then began heading back to the village. When they got back, the village was in ruins. A fire raged across the grasses and other foliage, and a large group of dragons were surrounding something. Spyro ran over to the group, and asked,

"What's going on?"

"We must do something about the one who ruined our village." Said one of the dragons in response.

"Who is the culprit?" Asked Ignitus. In response, some of the dragons moved from their original positions, to reveal Cynder. She was laying, in chains, in the center of the circle of dragons, hissing at her captors.

"We apologize, but we had no other way to stop her." Said another of the dragons.

"That's quite alright." Said Ignitus. Spyro then approached Cynder, who hissed at him.

"Cynder, what's happened to you...?" Asked Spyro. He reached a paw out to her, but as it came close to contact with her, she snapped at it, causing Spyro to pull his paw back out of reflex. Cynder then began furiously struggling against her bonds. Thrashing, breathing streams of fire, and snapping at nothing in particular.

"She might hurt someone!" Yelled one of the dragons, motioning for the rest to get back.

"Or herself! Someone stop her!" Yelled Spyro. In response, a dragon approached Cynder, holding a shackle. As the dragon approached her, she growled at him, but he was not fazed. He slipped the shackle onto Cynder's snout, and Cynder tried to bite him. However, before she had the chance, the shackle was snapped shut tightly, forcing Cynder's mouth shut. The dragon who had done the job sighed, while Cynder continued to thrash about in her bonds.

"Cynder, calm down! We aren't going to hurt you!" Yelled Spyro, trying to get through to her. It did not work, however, and still Cynder was thrashing about.

"Nothing's working!" Said Spyro.

"Cynder! You need to calm down! You won't get anywhere if you keep up like this!" Yelled Terrador. However, Cynder would not stop.

"Stop it Cynder!" Yelled Terrador. Shortly after Terrador yelled, Cynder gradually slowed to a stop. It took a while, but she finally stopped. When she stopped completely, everyone sighed with relief.

"That's my girl." Whispered Terrador. Cynder then started crying, she simply could not hold it back. She tried to say something, but couldn't because of the shackle on her snout.

"Someone get that thing off of her! She's trying to say something!" Yelled Ignitus. One of the dragons approached Cynder, and removed the shackle on her snout.

"It hurts..." Said Cynder.

"What's wrong, Cynder?" Asked Ignitus.

"It hurts..." Repeated Cynder.

"What hurts?" Asked Ignitus.

"Get it off..." Said Cynder.

"What? What is it?" Asked Ignitus.

"I...can't breathe...Get it off...It's...choking me..." Said Cynder.

"What are you talking about, Cynder?" Asked Ignitus.

"She must be referring to the collar! We have to remove it before it kills her!" Yelled Spyro.

"Yes, we must." Said Ignitus. He reached out to try and break the collar, but was stopped by the immense dark energies.

"It seems such methods will not be enough." Said Ignitus.

"Help...help me..." Said Cynder.

"What can we do?" Asked Spyro.

"I...don't know." Said Ignitus. Slowly, Cynder lost consciousness. Spyro noticed her fall into an unconscious state, and he yelled,

"We're running out of time!"