CHAPTER 13

Her former friend now glared menacingly at Ria, his stare alone making her knees weak. Cynder did her best to stand strong for her, but even her strength was faltering at this point.

"You place you're hope for survival in the paws of a child? Truly you have forgotten how to plan a battle Cynder." Malefor said, holding his malevolent stare.

Cynder lowered her head down to Ria's level and whispered.

"I know you're scared, but we need to get you through that portal so you can get control of yourself. I'm going to distract him for as long as I can. On three. Ready...?"

She nodded and Cynder slowly counted, herself knowing that this could be the end for her for all eternity.

"One..."

Cynder assumed a battle stance once more, and Malefor did as well, ready to rip the dragoness limb from limb.

"T-Two..."

She was now on the verge of trembling. The thought of a life without Spyro was overwhelming, and she knew almost for a fact what he would do if he found out she was gone forever.

"Three!"

Cynder pooled her remaining magic together and lunged at the dark master, knocking him over. She clawed viciously at his chest and neck, trying desperately to inflict a mortal wound.

"Ria go!" She shouted as the little drake snapped out of her trance and began running as fast as her little legs could carry her. Before she jumped in, she turned to look back at her mysterious rescuer, only to see Malefor's tail whip across her face, flinging her to the ground with a feminine grunt. Ria could only watch in fear as her former friend walked calmly over to Cynder, the scratches she gave him bleeding onto the floor leaving a trail behind him.

Malefor thrust a massive claw around Cynders neck, and slammed her against the wall, keeping her in his choke hold. He then proceeded to fire punch after bone shattering punch straight to her gut as bits of blood rained from her mouth. After a particularly violent volley of hits, Malefor raised his tail and placed the tip on her chest.

"Now, I'm going to do something I should have done a long time ago!" He withdrew his tail with the intent of slamming it into her heart when a scream and fireball stopped him. He heard the scream, but when he turned to confront it, he was met with a ball of fire the likes of which he had never seen. It hit him dead on, releasing his grip on Cynder and sending him tumbling away from her. Cynder dropped to the ground and weakly raised her head to shout at Ria.

"GO! Get into the portal now!" she shouted.

She dashed the few remaining feet to the portal, but felt a vice like grip clasp around her back foot. To her horror she saw that one of Malefor's black tendrils had securely wrapped itself around her.

"I dont think so! I will not allow you to ruin my plans again Cynder!" Slowly he began to pull her to him.

Cynder had to act quickly.

She raised her razor sharp tailtip and quickly cut the appendage, leaving flailing on the ground as Ria made her escape into a flash of white light.

"That'a girl..." She said as Cynder disappeared back into the heavens with a sigh.

xXx

Jerraths arm was being crushed by his much larger sister as she fastened the other claw around his neck. She was still under Malefor's control.

'Why is she still evil? We got the amulet off!' Spyro thought in confusion as Jerrath had the life choked out of him by his little sister.

"Ria...its your...brother...s-stop...please...." He gasped, his last forced breaths leaving his lungs clamoring for air.

Then her grip relaxed, and her evil purple eyes flickered back to their original color. But as soon as it had lightened enough for him to get another breath, it tightened back up as her eyes changed back to purple.

'She's fighting Malefor Jerrath! Use the purple dragons fury!' Spyro instructed as his right forepaw began to glow purple.

He reared back and punched Spyro's energy right into her chest, freeing him from her choke hold and sending her tumbling backwards. A black mist and a hellish shriek came from her as Malefor was released back into oblivion. Ria began shrinking back to her normal size as her brother scrambled over to her.

'You did it Jerrath...you beat the greatest evil in all the realms...' Spyro said relieved.

"I couldnt have done it without you Spyro..." He said catching his breath.

'I don't have the energy to stay with you, but I think you can handle yourself from here.' He assumed as he too went back to heaven with Cynder and Ignitus as well as the rest of the other guardians.

"Ria...Ria wake up..." He said as he held up his sisters head off the ground.

Her eyes fluttered open and she smiled at her brother in the midst of all the death and destruction she had caused.

He picked her up and carried her out of the nearly destroyed temple, only to be met by a crowd of angry Warfang residents.

xXx

Spyro appeared next to Cynder after he had left Jerrath, and the two of them walked away together when Cynder caught the confrontation out of the corner of her eye.

"Wait a second Spyro...what's going on down there?" She asked walking back over to the viewing pool of the living realm.

"Oh no..." He said. He had left them too soon!

"We have to get back down there and help them!" He said.

"We cant Spyro! Neither you nor I have the energy to make another trip down there!" She admitted.

"Then what are we supposed to do? Leave them at the mercy of that angry mob?" He growled in frustration.

"All we can do is wait until we have more energy, and pray that they can take care of themselves..." She hoped sadly. This was especially painful for Cynder to witness. She knew exactly what it was like to be ostracized for something you couldn't control. This was the consequence of being one of the dark masters pawns.

xXx

"That's her! That's the monster!"

"Kill it now! Before she awakens again!"

Shouts like these emanated from the crowd as torches and weapons were waved at the two young dragons.

"She's not evil! She was possessed by evil!" Jerrath reasoned, but to no avail.

The crowd soon began to encircle them. He took off into the dense woods, the snow crunching beneath his back paws as he carried his sister in his front paws. Running into the woods was a mistake on his part, because he didn't have the strength to break through the canopy of dead trees. His sister was still unconscious as he went deeper into the forest, the bitter winds somehow finding their way through the trees, biting at his face, tail and paws. He couldn't stop now, he heard the mob behind him , and when he turned to look every now and then, their torchlights Let him know that they would not let up so easily.

Hours later...

Jerrath was now slowly trudging through the blizzard that was now barreling down on the pair. The mob had long since dispersed, but not before driving them so far into the wilderness that they were hopelessly lost. Normally, he'd hear Ria cough or feel her shift in his arms, but he hadn't felt or heard anything from her in the past hour. She felt cold to the touch as he pressed on, his malnourished and dehydrated frame slowing more with every step.

xXx

Spyro looked into the pool with sadness. He almost had the energy to descend to their realm once more, but it was too late. Cynder was beside him, a tear forming in her corner of her eye, staining her jet black scales. It seemed as though Malefor had claimed two small victories...

xXx

"Ria...Ria!" Jerrath called to his sister, still carrying her in his arms, even thought they were severely frostbitten by this point, as was his tail, and paws.

'I've got to get her help!' He thought as his legs faltered beneath him, causing him to crash into the snow, throwing his frozen arms forward to avoid crushing his little sister.

He looked up from the white ground and saw the torchlights of a village in the distance.

He grabbed his now extremely cold sister and held her close. She was still motionless...

"Look Ria...we're almost there..." He whispered to her as he laid his head down, embracing the darkness closing in on his vision before trying to continue on.

Spyro and Cynder's spirit appeared before the fallen drake and his sister in the now gently falling snow.

"Thats right Jerrath...you're almost home." Spyro said, as a tear dripped off his snout and froze on the ground.

The End!

I told you there would be no hollywood ending! please tell me what you think!

also, check out the works of cornys one of the newest writers on this site!
thats it! I have no more fics planned, so I'll prolly just be reviewing from now on.

Bye, and thanks for all of your support and reading!

-TMHB77