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Chapter eight:

Battle among friends

Spyro retreated to the air to avoid this crazed animal that use to be his friend. Crimson rebounded off the ground and collided with the purple dragon. They were sent barreling into the wall behind them with a loud thud then onto the floor with an equally loud thud. The munants just move to prevent interfering with fight.

Spyro managed to kick Crimson off him, quickly get up, and launch a powerful stream of fire at Crimson. Crimson simply rushed up and struck Spyro across the face, diverting the attack to the ground. Cynder let off the loudest and most powerful fear scream she had fired in her life; Crimson's eyes glowed red in fear but he not stop nor flinch.

"NO!" Cynder screamed as she ran quickly to stop the fatal strike. She managed to momentarily grab hold of Crimson's tail and ram it so hard that it barely cut in to Spyro's side. Crimson spun around with the force of the push and whipped his tail across Cynder's chest. The jagged blade harshly tore through her flesh. She was sent spiraling toward the black, ash-powdered stone wall of the circular throne room; she let out a frail gasp as her body rolled across against the wall and onto the floor. Her bright blood, gushing from over her scarlet ribs, mixed with the dust and dirt and other filth turning her blood umber.

Through his somewhat good eye, Spyro looked at his mate then at Crimson, who had been creeping closer. Crimson stopped inches from Spyro's face. He raised his tail to strike again but started shaking violently.

"I - I - I'm sorry," Crimson whispered with a sad look on his face before slowly turning around to look at the thing sitting on the throne. Darkness flowed from his scales and snaked it way to Cynder. The darkness entered the deep gash in her chest and began to stretch the muscle over the bone making her give a painful twitch. Afterward, it retreated back to shroud Crimson, still leaving an open wound on Cynder. "That's all I can spare. Go, get the eggs, keep them safe and - I'm sorry."

"You shouldn't fight alone!" Spyro said hoarsely.

"I'll cover you. NOW GO!" crimson yelled, opening his wings. A strong cold wind threw Cynder's limp body and Spyro out of the room and into the back of the badly-lit hallway. The entrance began to freeze over. Spyro saw Crimson looking back, a smile on his face and a shimmering stream of tears running down his cheek. Then the doorway was sealed.

"NO!" Spyro yelled, running up and clawing at the ice, but the ice restored itself moments later. It was pointless. He had to get Cynder and eggs out, he knew that. He limped back to Cynder and lifted her onto his shoulder. Her warm blood dripped gradually down his back. Her bleeding had slowed, which was good. He started limping down one of the dull hallways, knowing he did not know where he was going. As he rounded one of the corners, he walked straight into a munant. Startled, he jumped back and his legs gave way as he landed. With a thud, Cynder fell off his shoulders and onto the ground. The munant didn't even twitch; it was completely obvious to him or anything from that matter. It just stood there, staring toward the throne chamber. Something big was happening but he had no time for that so he picked Cynder up and cautiously crept past the munant. He continued to stumble through the endless corridors; right, right, left, straight, right, left, right. Spyro saw more munants standing, unmoving; all staring in the direction of the same place... Or were they the same munants over and over. All the halls he past looked the same, the only difference were the stains that peppered the stone and diverse horrendous smells.

"Where I'm going? We could be wandering in here until we die," he whispered to himself, closing his eyes and sitting down roughly in exhaustion and dread. His lungs began to throb as he started to cry.

A dim multicolor glow woke Spyro from his anguish. It was an ever-changing assortment of garnet, cobalt, jade and saffron. Spyro stood and trudged onward to follow the familiar light that warmly beckoned him forward; his tail spade scraping weakly on the ground. As he carried Cynder, he noticed that no matter how much closer he got, oddly, the glow never got any brighter. They led him down corridor after corridor after corridor until Spyro recognized an odor he didn't notice before: old rust, stale blood, festering sludge, and rotten eggs. The egg chamber; the thought filled him with renewed energy. He began to weakly jog then run, careful not to knock Cynder off.

It wasn't long before he saw the entrance. After slowed to a trot, Spyro brushed off the floor as best he could and gently set Cynder down. The lights solidified into wide, endless ribbons and wrapped themselves around the dragons. Spyro could finally feel his strength rapidly return to him as if he crushed a thousand green spirit gems.

"Uh..."

Spyro's head whipped around to look at Cynder as she let out another painful grunt. He rushed over to his mate and the lights retreated back into the eggs, making them glow.

"Cynder, how do you feel?" Spyro asked worried.

"Spyro... I - I'm fine. Where are we?" Cynder groaned.

"We're in the egg chamber. I'm so glad you're okay!" he started to nuzzle her with glee but stopped to say, "We need to get the eggs out of here. Do you think you can carry the eggs and I'll carry you?"

"I think I can manage that." She stood weakly and, with some help from Spyro, managed to stagger over to the pedestal. Spyro brought eggs down to ground level and Cynder took one under each arm. The eggs were very warm considering how cold and dead their surroundings were.

"Ready?" Spyro asked. His wings creaked and popped as he opened them, still a little sore from the fight with Crimson.

"Ready," Cynder repeated, bending down to hold the eggs more tightly.

Spyro hugged Cynder securely and began to flap his wings hard but he couldn't get the lift he needed. Then the glow from the eggs grew to encase Spyro and Cynder and a jet stream started to flow around the room. One finally thrust of his wings and they were in the air; another thrust, another inch. Soon they were high enough to make the turn out of the chamber and into the hallways. With only a few light flaps that were needed to stay airborne and move forward, they travelled swiftly. Every single munant they passed seemed frozen in time, all staring in the direction of the throne room. Their deformed bodies stood in awe of something.

Following the path the three dragons took to get in, Spyro and Cynder quickly found the way out. The dense, green, fog-like clouds that covered the sky were a welcome sight for the two. Spyro skimmed across what was left of the land, leaving a trail of ash and dust in the air.

Spyro was beginning to worry about Crimson. He must still be fighting the Master. Spyro felt sorry for leaving him to fight alone against something like that. After he was sure the eggs were safe, he would have to come back and help him.

"Spyro. Cynder."

Spyro and Cynder looked up to see a green silhouette of a rather large dragon. As it got closer, the clear it got.

"Terrador!" they both said in relief, landing as their adrenaline ran out.

"Spyro! Cynder! Oh my god you two look horrible," Terrador said as he joined the younglings on the ground. "But where is Crimson?"

"He's still in there," Spyro wheezed. "Are the other eggs okay?"

"They're back at the temple with Cyril and Volteer guarding them. But we need to focus on getting you and Crimson out of here-- Head back to the temple. I'll get Crimson."

"Alright, I think I can find the way back," Spyro said, gently setting Cynder and eggs down.

"No! I couldn't bare it if somth..."

_ An ominous, malicious laugh of the Master echoed through the valley causing the dragons' skin to crawl. A brilliant white light from the cave rose to a powerful shine. The light started to pierce the mountain and the whole valley started to shake horribly. The sound of the mountain cracking overshadowed the Master's laughter. Soon the laughter began to fade with the flickering light before the mountain, caverns and eventually the entire Valley of Decay collapsed._

...

"That's all I can spare. Go, get the eggs, keep them safe and - I'm sorry."

"You shouldn't fight alone!" Spyro said hoarsely.

"I'll cover you. NOW GO!" crimson yelled, opening his wings. A strong cold wind threw Cynder's limp body and Spyro out of the room and into the back of the badly-lit hallway. The entrance began to freeze over. Spyro saw Crimson looking back, a smile on his face and a shimmering stream of tears running down his cheek. Then the doorway was sealed.

"Now, where were we? Oh yes, I was going to shred you," Crimson said before he ran up, fangs and claws bared, to killed his ex-master. But as soon as he was mere inches the Master's face, a dark, blood-red crystal pillar shot out of the floor and struck Crimson under the chin.

Crimson was sent tumbling back a few feet and the crystal pillar retracted with a loud screech into the floor. A much larger pillar dropped down from the ceiling. Crimson rolled to avoid being crushed by it as it fell and hit the ground with a heavy thud then it retracted back into the ceiling. Darkness enveloped Crimson and he began to move at an unnatural speed but the pillars were somehow able to keep up. They continued to fire from every direction and crimson was forced to continue to dodging.

"Come on, play fair."

"Why should I lower myself to your level," the Master said as Crimson managed to successfully maneuver past the pillars to get close enough for another strike. But a small spear-like pillar launched from behind the Master's head, almost piercing it, and impaled into Crimson's left shoulder. Crimson screamed in pain as the pillar rotated and pushed until he was pinned against the opposite wall. The darkness splattered roughly onto the wall behind him.

Crimson pounded the crystal with a balled up fist. With each strike, a loud crack echoed throughout the chamber until the pillar finally broke. Falling weakly to the floor, he yanked the spear-head out. He pathetically hobbled back to the Master; his mind was so full with anger, he failed to notice that the pillars had stopped.

"Pathetic. You truly are disappointment. I don't know why I kept you round. I've had my fun but now my curiosity has been sated," the Master said as a jagged crystal spear shot into Crimson's right shoulder. Another into just above his right wing. Another into his left hip. Another into his right lower back. His right hip. His left shoulder. His left lower back. Just above his left wing. After each stab, his cries became meeker and meeker until the sound he was making was a weak bloody gasp.

Enduring the pain, Crimson looked in cold defiance at the Master and spat blood in his general direction. A final jagged spear slowly screeched its way up from the floor and agonizingly into Crimson's throat. He struggled but only caused more damage. Quickly he started to emit quite hiccup-like sounds as he began to choke on his blood. Until he went limp and his bright blood ran down the dark crystal and pooled with the many stains of blood that came before him.

"Pity," the Master said looking at one of his munants. "Prepare experiment AJ19 for the arrival of the subj..."

"No..."

For the first time, the Master's eyes were wide with surprise. That voice was Crimson but he was undoubtedly sure the little dragon was dead.

"This ends here. Now." Crimson's ghostly voice softly echoed throughout the room. He sharply opened his eyes but they were pitch black. A blinding light began to glow brighter and brighter until his scales turned from black to pearl white. His blood turned as black as his eyes. The spears holding him began to crack, shatter, and turn to dust.

An angry black dragon with unusual purple eyes no longer stood before the Master but a calm glowing pure white dragon with black eyes.

"Interesting..." the Master whispered. "I'll have run some test when I'm done here."

"Doubtful."

More pillars shot out from the floor, walls, and ceiling but were turned to dust. The pillars came faster till they were coming thousands at a time. Thousands turn to millions until pillars were coming out of every inch of the room but they too turned to dust before they reached him. The dust began to twist and flow into Crimson's open wounds, forming new glowing scales.

"Let us end this childish game," Crimson hollowly said as the glow from his scales grew brighter. Anything the light touched faded away; the pillars, the munants that lined the wall, even the dimly glowing dark red crystal lights. The Master and Crimson were left standing in nothing but white lights. No floor, no walls, no ceiling; nothing but endless white.

"So many lives were lost by your hand. They were not killed; they were destroyed. But now you will be judged for your crimes and your sins. Feel their pain. Feel their fear. Feel their sorrow and anguish. You will never harm another again," Crimson said coldly and concretely. As he spoke, countless transparent dragons, cheetahs, moles and many other creatures of Avalar silently walk up from behind Crimson. They stared fiercely at the Master; some were anxiously smiling.

The Master ginned widely and laughed. "Ah ha ha hahahaha. I am a genius. I have created the ultimate, the perfect, the most powerful being live. I truly am a genius. Ah ha ha haha."

All those behind Crimson charged up at the Master, each wanting a piece of him. With each of his previous experiments collided with him, a piece of him disappeared until even his laughter faded into the light.

With the Master gone, two of the ghostly dragons approached Crimson. One maroon male, the other a dark green female.

"May you sleep for eternity - my friends," Crimson whispered. The two dragons bowed and joined the others that walked back into the light to disappear. The white light that surrounded him began to flicker. He saw quick glimpses of the room through the light; the munants were gone, the throne was gone and he could hear a deep earthy rumble. His scales dulled to a withered gray then back to their old color. When the last of the light completely failed, fatigue hit him so hard that he was rapidly losing consciousness and he fell over.

Large pieces of the ceiling were piling all around him. The sound of sharp cracking, deep rumbles, and falling debris was fading. But he didn't care. His work was done. He had stopped the Master and the eggs were safe... or he hoped so. But he trusted Spyro. He knew Spyro and Cynder could take care of them.

_With a peaceful smile on his face and his vision fading quickly, he closed eyes and waited for the inevitable. _