FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 10

The two freshly acquainted dragons worked tirelessly in the library...or one of them did. Yet a certain blue dragoness would disagree rather roughly. Iris perhaps didn't rise a claw to help the young fire dragon by lifting even the tiniest scrap of paper, but the goal she set for herself meant the hardest work in her life. A work she willingly condemned herself to.

The longer she stayed here, the stronger she suspected that she is wasting her time.

The dragon was an idiot and a clumsy one at that.

Yet...

There was something odd about him, besides the obvious of course. His looks didn't really impress her, even in her time...

Her time.

How stupid it sounds.

...even in her time there were dragons who showed traits of superficial elemental energy. From the part of her life, a short one, that didn't involve running and hiding like a stinking rat she remembered that it had something to do with acquiring too much power in a seriously short amount of time. Or it had something to do with an adaptation to the increasing potential of magic flowing through the world.

Fuck if I know.

Fuck if I care.

Her dick of an uncle has a fiery tail himself and there's nothing special about the prick.

This guy over here is covered in flames, like he fell into a cauldron of elemental fire when he was a hatchling.

Big deal.

However her feminine intuition told her that it wasn't the whole truth, if it would be that simple she would already scratched her brains out at the first sight of his dullness. There was something really attractive about him, something that could sate the parasitic hate feeding on her.

She sat in the middle of the library watching him running around the room, following her every order like an obedient puppet. The interior finally started to resemble a library, an effect achieved in mere hours, no doubt thanks to her.

From what she gathered he was here practically the whole day and basically did nothing. He was illiterate, yeah, but as far as she knows inability to read doesn't prevent from putting up bookshelves. It was like he spent most of his time here on daydreaming, the toppling bookshelf was the first he tried to move.

Her feminine intuition kicked in again, she has seen the same behavior before.

You know what it means Iris don't you?

You've been through the same thing, didn't you Iris?

He was hiding, running from something, trying to occupy his mind with whatever he could get his paws on. It was plain as day, but still not the whole truth. He motivated his actions also with something else, as if trying to...

Make amends?

What did you do Dynamite?

Give me something to work on.

"Are you listening to me Iris?"

Her senses returned to her sharply as she jerked her head back in surprise.

"What?"

Flare waggled a book he was holding in front of her eyes.

"What about this one? It's different than the others"

I don't give a fuck.

She threw the tome a fleeting, uninterested glance. The book was thin, very thin, she didn't bother to check out the title. It was a guide of sorts maybe, or a recipe. She had enough, the role of a librarian started to irritate her long time ago, enough is enough.

"Put it with all the rest of the crap"

Flare winced, his eyes quickly darted from side to side, aimlessly seeking something and not finding it.. Only then he turned towards her with a devastated wince.

"Meaning?" he whined

Iris rubbed her forehead, idiocy was giving her a headache, having to deal with it out of her own free will squeezed her brain.

"Miscellaneous"

"Right!" he beamed and swiftly spun around, making hasty steps forward, putting into his walk confidence of a person who knows what he wants

Then, suddenly, he stopped.

Whole confidence evaporated like water in the hot desert.

Iris groaned like a picky brat, her wings slumped down onto the carpet. Impulsively she started to pluck at her feathers, something she hasn't done since she was just a child.

"To your left, second row, third shelf"

Flare furrowed his brows at the sound of her voice, he didn't meet many kids in his life but the ones he saw spoke with the same emotionless and devastated whine whenever they lost a fight with their parents over something they really didn't want to do.

He looked behind his shoulder, his eyes widened slightly as they absorbed the image of his unwilling companion fully. The austerity and roughness disappeared from her features, she looked like a little girl with wide round eyes, lovingly broken and trapped in whatever world of consolation she placed herself into.

The way she looked and the manner with which she played with her feathers was immensely cute.

"To your left, second row, third shelf" she repeated, her voice devoid of any coldness. It was surprisingly sweet and melodic, the accent adding a peculiar charm to the innocent voice of a little girl.

Like the alluring song of a mermaid.

His legs carried him on his own, his yellow eyes perpetually stuck on the dragoness. Innocence is not what he was used to see, the years he spent as a test mouse stole from him so much grace the world has to offer. Found even in places where you would never believe to see it, like on the expression of his female companion.

It was awkwardly blinding.

He could-

His train of thought sped somewhere far away the moment a grunt escaped his throat as he bumped into the frame of a nearby bookshelf, nose first. His panicked eyes momentarily were filled by tears, the whole pitiful construction started to shake, books rattled like turbulent hatchlings and to make things worse his nose started to itch with a numb pain.

With a whine Flare pounced towards the quaking bookshelf and forcefully grabbed its wooden surface. To his surprise it stopped moving, the only thing in this damn room that wasn't against him. Only some hollow thuds vibrated across the library as some of the books fell down like domino.

The dragon exhaled a very long breath of relief, he looked behind his shoulder and smiled sheepishly.

Iris kept playing with her feathers, her head shaking slightly in complete and utter disbelief.

Flare's mind focused on the task at hand, he might be dull sometimes, but there are signals even he can understand. He bounced to the side, swiftly sprang into the desired row of bookshelves, quickly set the book he was holding in its rightful place and even in a blink of an eye rearranged the tomes that toppled over.

"Done!" he blurt out triumphantly and pounced into the middle of the room, grinning proudly.

Iris was still sitting in the same manner as before.

"You look really pretty when you play with your wings like that"

The dragoness balked suddenly, as if struck by a bolt of lightning. Her angelic wings aggressively flared open, her eyes sparkled, icily, as if a little rough and freezing winter just started inside her diamond orbs.

The temperature in the library dropped considerably.

"You think I'm pretty?" she hissed, her voice cold and ringing with the sound of breaking ice.

Flare gulped, there was no sign of his smile no longer.

"T-that w-was a c-c-compliment"

"If you call me pretty ever again I'll slice your throat and pull your tongue right through the hole"

The dragon impulsively rubbed his neck. Obviously having the ability to take the hint when it's put plainly before him.

She looked around the room, her eyes seemed to leave an icy trail behind them.

"Is it done?"

Flare stared at her blankly.

"The library. Everything's on the right place?"

He swallowed once more, feeling a little bulge beneath his paw as it slid down his throat.

"Y-yes"

Iris gave the room another look, she did a good job with this place, maybe not everything is on its usual spot, maybe not every book is where it should be, but it should be enough for those assholes to stop harassing her. A lesson in humility would do them good, however it won't happen today, she done enough for those idiots.

If they won't like it then they are even bigger morons than she originally thought. They have to understand who is the bigger fish here, giving her scraps to work with, together with a dumb puppet and still she done miracles with this place.

It's even better than it was before, dragons like her know what's good. Taste and style, those are the things they don't understand and never will. No matter how hard they try, the library was good previously, now it's magnificent.

This is class.

Bow to your queen.

Iris stood up and made her way towards the door.

"Hey wait!" Flare dashed after her "After we were done with putting everything on its place we were supposed to clean this place up"

She ignored the protesting dragon, her job here is done. She has to see if there is anyone stupid enough outside that thinks otherwise.

He closely followed her swinging in irritation tail.

"I'm serious, I've made a deal with the nice mole lady. We can't just leave"

His voice became more hectic by the minute, not because he felt that he breaks the agreement and feels guilty about it, it was something else.

He was scared.

I don't care.

Whatever troubles he has are of no concern to her, she dealt with him long enough.

"Iris wait" Flare begged "Let's stay here just for a little while longer"

A veil of complete agony shrouded his already saddened eyes when she continued walking, as if not hearing what he just said.

"Please, only a little lon-"

His weak pleading voice died among the sound of opening door, both dragons looked up following the growing silvery arms of the moon which grew in accordance with the sound of the opening door to eventually reveal a mole and a draconic guard at its doorstep.

Mora's eyes grew to unspeakable size behind her goggles as she took into notice the arranged interior of the most important place in her world.

"Look at this!" she clapped her hands excitedly and pounced inside the room.

She opened her arms fully and spun around in place.

"You did a wonderful job my friend" she breathed in awe

Flare scratched the back of his head bashfully "I had help"

Mora threw the dragoness a quick dubious glance "I'm sure you had"

Iris ignored the irony.

The mole clapped her hands "You did a wonderful job with this place, I can see that there are some changes here and there, but we'll manage. Life is about a little excitement after all is it not?"

"Life is also about justice" the draconic guard added, fiercely narrowing his eyes on the ice dragoness.

She stared back at him, no one of the two lowered their eyes.

Mora nodded, pretending that she didn't understand the hint "It seems like we are done here"

"No" Flare protested gently "There is still so much to do, we didn't clean this place yet" he jumped towards the nearby desk and ran his claw along its wooden surface. He then presented it to the librarian it was covered in dust.

"See?"

The mole smiled fondly "Your determination is admirable but I think we can handle it from here"

The fire dragon looked devastated "Are you sure?"

"Yes, don't waste your young life on working when it's not needed. Go out into the world and make sure you announce yourself with a blast"

Colors faded from the dragon's snout. He swallowed, the bulge of saliva that went down his throat felt like a rough rock.

The librarian titled her "Are you alright? You turned rather pale all of a sudden"

Flare put up a forced smile "I'm fine, it's just that sometimes I feel very small compared to the vast world that just waits to swallow me down"

Mora laughed heartily "So true, I occasionally feel the same way, but unfortunately I don't have the chance to show the world who's boss here"

She shrugged happily "A midget stays a midget"

The drake chuckled falsely.

"However there are times when I can feel that I can do whatever I want with the world. You want to know the cure?"

Flare nodded out of politeness and not interest.

She grinned "It's called shopping"

"Shopping?"

The mole laughed "Yes!" she rummaged through her pockets, something clank inside "Speaking of which...there!" she presented some small green gems on her palm "For your trouble"

The dragon shook his head "You don't have to"

"Stop joking" she removed a small pouch hanging from her belt and poured the crystals inside "A well-deserved compensation for a job well done" she offered the pouch to the drake "Take it, I won't take no for an answer"

Flare reluctantly reached for the small bag "Thanks" he threw the ice dragoness a brief glance "Iris deserves a reward more than I do"

The librarian looked at the ground awkwardly, nervously picking at her claws

"She already got a reward" the draconic guard added fiercely his eyes never leaving the dragoness

She didn't back down from the ongoing silent battle.

"Really? What was it?"

"Unfairness. Keep away from her kid, only jail is an appropriate place for the likes of her"

Mora clapped her hands and giggled nervously "So how about we call it a day? Go enjoy the evening, some stalls should be open, buy some nice things" she pointed at the door with her open palm "Have fun"

He wanted to protest, but the longer he observed the librarian's wavering smile the more he realized that this situation is very uncomfortable for her. It was time to get his fiery tail out of here, the moment had to come eventually, sadly it came too quickly.

Flare advanced forward, his steps were heavy, as if invisible chains would be locked around his legs. A strong shiver shook his body as he approached Iris. It was like she was emanating a freezing aura.

Only when he passed her he felt her moving behind him, the cold air from her breath biting sharply at his back scales. He might not be a warrior per se, but that doesn't change the fact that he is sensitive in noticing when someone is practically ready to claw your eyes out.

His unfortunate life experience taught him that.

He knew that Iris is ready.

If he wouldn't move when he did it wouldn't be long before the guard would throw another provocation making her snap. However that doesn't mean that it can't still happen, the guard was in their way, if he won't move things might go drastic.

Who to protect?

Involve myself into this?

Who will die?

Luckily Flare never received answers for those questions. As soon as they approached the doorstep the guard moved to the side with an annoyed snort.

"The guy that came with must have a talent for licking asses"

Flare winced, the breath wafting from above as the big dragon watched them arrogantly, or most likely her, seemed to burn his scales. It reeked of provocative intent and anticipation for what is to come.

However Iris did not react, the taunt was aimed at somebody who she cares about it seems and yet she remained untouched by the fact, at least from the outside. She never smiled during the time they spent here together, she is incapable of smiling. She said it herself.

The aura around her was the gate to her emotions.

The moment the guard mentioned that guy he no longer felt the sharp stinging on his scales. The cold aura no longer was so fierce, now instead of focusing on a single place on his body it spread across the width of his silhouette.

Just like the aura would be forming a grin.

The guard growled in annoyance, realizing that his provocation didn't work.

"You are to be expected in the City Hall at midnight" the dragon's claws drummed on a nearby tree trunk meaningfully "I hope you will be late"

Iris barked two times.

A low rumbling growl blurt out from the guard's mouth, the drumming claws dug into the trunk forcefully and tore a piece of the wood as he furiously jerked his paw back.

Cortex shot everywhere.

"Watch your step" the dragon rumbled and took to the air, purposely creating as much wind as possible

She watched the big mouthed fucker take off and disappear into the black sky as she moved forward. The dog was very close to losing his head.

Iris' eyes remained locked on the sky, on the blackness above, the dragon was gone by now, yet she couldn't shake off the feeling that she is being watched by something really...evil. She shook her head, trying to discard the sensation.

It didn't work.

She narrowed her eyes, her mind pulsed with feral instinct, she sensed danger, she sensed that she is being hunted. A cold finger of fear poked her heart, making her realize just how insignificant she truly is. Like a defenseless deer, surrounded by hungry predators.

She had a strange feeling that the hunter, whatever it was, is closer than ever and she can do nothing about it. Strangely it filled her with an odd kind of relief, she never backed down from a fight before, in fact she was the one that spearheaded most of them. She just knew that she is better than anyone else, yet this...this isn't her kind of caliber.

Fuck pride.

Suddenly, a quick shadow shrouded the stars above for a brief second and disappeared soon after to reveal them in their full glory once more. Just like...

...something moved out there.

Iris yelped when she tripped over something long and scaly, whatever things she imagined to see and feel faded away, replaced only by the sound of her clicking claws as she struggled to regain balance. With a growl of annoyance she looked behind her shoulder as she eventually managed to get a good foothold on the ground. Even without checking she knew who was behind this.

A fiery tail nervously slid across the ground back and forth.

Another growl rumbled within her throat as she aimed her hateful eyes on the dragon's snout.

"What now?"

Flare didn't answer, his head was turning from side to side, slowly, allowing his eyes to perceive every little detail. His fiery body pulsed, the light emanating from him was brighter and dimmer alternately. He was afraid, that one thing was obvious, but it wasn't the common fear that forces you run as far as possible. It was quite the opposite in his case, the fright that overwhelmed him prevented him from making a step forward.

As if the world would fall apart the moment his paw touches the ground.

Iris roiled her eyes, there was something interesting about him, she knew that, but she didn't have the strength anymore to deal with him. She scanned the city herself, out of boredom really than with some deliberate plan, not hoping to find anything worthwhile and yet the search proved to be fruitful.

She spotted a mole packing up his things from a nearby stall, even from here she heard the delicate clinking of jewelry. The idiot might still be of some use today.

The dragoness stopped right behind the mole, the rodent had his back turned to her, busy locking some beautifully crafted medallions back into their caskets. He spun around with a startled whine as he suddenly felt a cold blow of air on his back.

"By the Ancestors!" he screamed and pressed his hands to his chest, calming his scared, pounding heart

He rearranged the goggles on his long snout and gave the figure in front of him a quick once-over. Only when his eyes formed the image of a pretty dragoness in front of him he let out a relieved nervous chuckle.

"You scared me to death miss" he laughed

Iris ignored the rodent and approached the now basically empty stall, yet there were some things that caught her attention.

A greedy smile spread across the mole's lips, he was closed but nothing makes the day better than an unexpected potential customer. With trained and experienced grace he moved behind the stall and put up a smile so wide that it would make anyone feel like they just met the owner of the gingerbread house they have just entered.

"Is there anything I can do for you in this beautiful evening?"

He examined the girl once more, and knew instantly that he will make some gems at the end of this day. She had a weakness for jewelry, the three gold bracelets and the chain, even if ugly, told him that. Not to mention that she seemed to take all this for some kind of fetish, he has never seen someone inserting jewelry in their bodies and she had a single, truly magnificent gem embedded into her chest.

Kids these days.

His eyes remained stuck on the crystal, it was brilliant, more beautiful than the stuff he usually makes, and he is a skilled craftsman. He wondered how much he would get for it if he could get his hands on the gem. His greedy soul wished that the dragoness would faint all of a sudden, right here, in front of his stall. He has tools stashed here somewhere, perfectly suitable for delicate jobs like that, like every mole he is a miner by blood, flesh is no different than stone. You just have to know where to swing your pick for the gem to come out unharmed.

"What are you looking at?"

The merchant looked up when some unexpected source of fiery light approached his stall. It was another dragon, the burning one he heard so much about. He also had a gem embedded inside his chest, freaks will be freaks.

He impulsively patted the back of his shoulder, a habit he developed during his mining days whenever he found some great gem. There was always his pick waiting impatiently for his touch.

Sadly today this was not the case.

Flare's eyes rested on the same place where Iris' gaze was aimed. There were some bracelets and rings displayed on the stall, all in the same color.

"You like gold?" he asked, connecting the obvious wasn't his strongest trait

She reached for one of the bracelets and turned it around under the light of Flare's wings.

The mole grinned "Everything's coming from a reliable source I assure you"

The dragoness straightened up on her hind legs, slid the bracelet on her left forepaw, to the exact same spot where the bracelet on her right leg laid and locked the jewelry around her paw with a practiced move.

The merchant let out a well-trained breath of awe "It looks like I made it just for you"

Iris turned her leg around, examining the bracelet with true admiration and then as by a magic touch her expression adopted the same cold grimace. She wrathfully removed the bracelet from her leg and placed it rather roughly on the stall.

"I can't afford it"

She angrily turned away from the stall and continued on her way.

Flare watched her go with saddened eyes, his paw impulsively touched the pouch hanging from his neck. He can make this right.

He turned to the stall and pointed at the bracelet Iris was recently checking.

"How much?"

Before the mole could answer the dragon tore the bag from his neck and emptied the contents on the stall.

"Will this be enough?"

The mole's eyes glimmered with greed, the gems he spilled exceeded the value of the bracelet practically tenfold. He didn't have to know that.

"Y-yes" the merchant stammered

Flare snatched the bracelet from the display and dashed after his female companion.

As a trader he knew what a bargainer's risk is, as he raised his gaze to observe the two young dragons while he gathered the gems from his stand he felt somewhat sad for the burning drake.

The poor fool was played.

Iris walked through the city with her head down, watching the shimmering, new gold bracelet on her left leg.

There's a chance everything might work after all.

*

"Is she sick?" Spyro asked, his voice wavering with emotion as he sat next to the bed where he brought Cynder to recover after she fainted right in front of his eyes.

His friend was sprawled practically across the whole length of the bed, jaw propped on two soft pillows, left paw resting slightly below the cheek, right one tightly secured in his gentle, purple embrace. Wings neatly folded and lying on the soft sheets, tail coiled with the tip dangling from the edge of the bed.

"From a medical point of view she's perfectly healthy" Amela commented thoughtfully as she leaned from the chair she was sitting on, her intelligent eyes focused on the calm snout of the poor girl

Spyro shook his head fiercely "People don't faint just like that. What if she had some kind of seizure ? Or something similarly horrible?"

The cheetah gently caressed Cynder's head "Calm your nerves darling, I understand your nervousness but I beg you, don't torture yourself with such ideas"

Spyro pressed his forehead to his friend's leg that he was holding "She isn't waking up Amela" he whined pitifully, his gentle cry muffled by Cynder's black scales pressed to his lips

Amela looked at the dragon with watery eyes, the pain in his voice was strongly palpable, you could touch it if you wanted to.

"I'm so sorry darling"

He sobbed weakly "I have all these crazy thoughts swirling inside my head. Brain damage being one of them"

"The body needs time to recover from such a sudden shock. Loss of consciousness is serious, everything has to happen in the right order. Imagine the body as one of the machine's the moles made, when it stops abruptly it has to restart its work from the beginning, slowly at first but with each passing faster and faster"

She directed her fondly gaze at the dragoness "She is resting, of that I am certain. That's good, it means that her body is charging. We just have to wait till her batteries will be full"

Spyro's head jerked up sharply as his grieving mind connected, in his opinion, very important facts "They had to poison her food! We were eating in our usual spot in the mess hall, I can swear that people were staring at us, laughing about something! I bet it had something to do with Cynder's food!"

Amela placed her hand on the dragon's shoulder compassionately "The border between grief and paranoia is a thin one. Beware Spyro, a paranoid mind can take you to unimaginable places"

"Every possibility must be considered!"

She caressed his shoulder gently "I know how you feel"

His head once more landed on his friend's paw as he sobbed delicately "I'm never there for her, I already failed one dragon that I loved and I keep doing the same with her"

Amela straightened up in her chair, she felt sorry for the poor drake, but at the same time beamed with loving joy, even if for a moment. Her eyes shrouded a dreamy veil.

Ahhh to be young again.

"I shouldn't have leave her alone"

"You know well darling that our Cynder here is a free spirit. She's an independent girl, you demonstrated great care for your brother and her soul"

Spyro snickered mockingly "And look what it got me. My friend is lying there" he nodded at the bed devastated "and I can't do nothing to help her"

"You cannot control everything. No matter how hard you might try"

He nodded sadly "That's why I need your help"

Amela pressed her hand to her chest in shock "Mine? There isn't much these old bones can do nowadays"

"Cynder adores you, I hear how she talks about you. You may be the only one who can convince her to come clean with me. When she wakes up she's going to try to avoid the topic, that's her style and she won't let me get close until I won't insist, and I mean REALLY insist. I can't risk to have that argument again, not in her current condition"

The cheetah smiled "You two are meant for each other"

Spyro threw a quick glance at the pretty, sleeping snout, in any other situation he wouldn't be able to turn his eyes away from the image that he loves seeing so much. This was not the time nor the place for it, yet the healer's words awakened that mind numbing, in a positive way, tug towards Cynder, that forced a blush to creep onto his cheeks.

Spyro scratched the back of his head skittishly "Will...you help me?"

The healer smiled kindly "I'll do my best"

The dragon returned a grateful smile "Remember to tell her that she can count on me"

"Of course"

"And..." he looked at his friend affectionately "..ask her if she seen something strange lately"

Amela leaned back in her chair, folding her arms on her chest "Then she told you about her hallucinations?"

The dragon's eyes flared up painfully "You know about that?"

The cheetah smiled lovingly "Don't be upset darling, you know your friend and why she keeps some things from you. Not that I approve of that mind you, but I'm just a healer, it's my job to listen to my patients if they are willing to share their troubles with me and not spread them around like stupid rumors. Trust is essential in this line of work"

The dragon aimed his gaze at his sleeping friend, he wanted to sound agitated, but he just couldn't be angry at her.

"She's so stubborn sometimes"

Patting her paw gently Spyro turned towards the healer, determination flashing in his eyes "I suppose you know about the dragon she keeps seeing?"

Amela nodded "Some of it, yes"

"Any thoughts?"

She took a deep thoughtful breath "Cynder had sleeping problems so she came to me for some medicine. Pretty understandable with all the burden she carries, it would give anyone nightmares. It was a subtle concoction, there was absolutely no possibility that it could have any side effects and worsen the state she was in back then"

"In fact it seemed to help her, the last time I saw her she was well rested, I even asked about her problems and she said that they disappeared, just like that. Cynder convinced me that it had to be some consequence of being exposed to tremendous amount of magic, mending the world surely counts as one. Not sure if she believed it herself, nevertheless it was a rational explanation. She said it's over, she didn't want to talk about it further so I didn't pry"

Amela looked at the sleeping dragoness, her yes full of sadness and guilt "Seems it's not"

Spyro licked his lips, thy shivered underneath his tongue like prey that is being tasted by its predator.

"She relives her past, don't know why but I'm sure that dragon has something to do with it. If it would be as simple as guilt she would have nightmares in the very beginning and not now. I think that whatever hold Malefor had over her, his influence didn't disappear with his death, I wouldn't be surprised if he prepared himself for something like this. He was clever, someone like him had to have a plan B, Cynder almost busted him out after all"

"Even if that would be the truth, would the Dark Master risk like that? Put his resurrection in the paws of a girl who you defeated once already?"

The dragon directed his eyes at the sleeping poor thing, his amethyst orbs were shimmering with tears. Amela rubbed her aching heart, she could smell the love emanating from the young drake. The scent was intoxicating and painful.

"I wouldn't be able to do that again" his voice came out from his throat like a lifeless whisper

She tried to say something but the words got stuck somewhere deep within her throat. She didn't envy him, if it would ever come to this he would hold the life of the love of his life in one paw while the fate of the world in the other.

She just hoped that this is only his fatalistic theory.

She just hoped t-

Cynder groaned suddenly, the sheets rustled underneath her delicately as she stirred.

Both Spyro an Amela looked at each other, their eyes twice their normal size.

"Cynder!' Spyro exclaimed and jumped in front of his friend's snout

Amela raised up sharply, the chair swayed and fell on the floor.

She groaned again, trying to pull herself up.

The cheetah placed her hand gently on the dragonesses back.

"Don't move"

"Where....am...I?" Cynder rasped, her voice rough like a shriveled leaf

"You're in the hospital" Spyro answered hectically "In Amela's office, I brought you here after-"

He jumped back when she opened her eyes, he could swear he saw a dark shade running across her eyes, like a shadow over the wall of some hideous monster.

Cynder offered him a weak, sarcastic smile "Well...aren't you...happy to...see...me"

He returned a nervous smile as he cocked his head, her eyes were green once more, or perhaps they were like that from the start. They lacked the sharp green shimmer, understandable in this circumstances, maybe that confused him.

It had to be his imagination.

Ancestors I beg you.

Let it be my imagination.

"Here" Amela placed a bowl of water in front of the dragonesses nose

Cynder threw the cheetah a grateful glance and began to awkwardly lap at the liquid.

"How are you feeling?" Spyro asked worryingly after she sated her thirst

"Like a cart would ran me over a thousand times" she moved her limbs with a groan "Every bone hurts like hell"

"What happened?"

"Spyro, maybe let's give Cynder some rest before-"

"No" the dragoness cut the cheetah off "You deserve to know"

The dragon jerked his head in surprise "Me too?"

"You especially"

Spyro looked at the cheetah with shocked eyes.

Amela winked.

"Don't ever pretend that you understand women"

Cynder smiled, her sharp mind already connecting the dots "You thought I wouldn't tell you anything?"

He scratched the back of his head nervously "Something like that"

The dragoness giggled "Anyway, I had another one of those crazy dreams...I think. I won't go into details because I would have a hard time explaining this and I don't want to confuse you even further. The most important thing is that it felt really vivid, like I wouldn't be dreaming at all, and..."

"The dragon you spoke about was there" Amela finished for the dragoness

Cynder nodded.

"When I found you Cynder you looked like you weren't sleeping for ages. Water was everywhere and all the fish dead, like a dynamite would blow in the pond"

"No dream is capable of making you do such a thing Sweetheart"

"Then I guess I was hallucinating..."

Spyro frowned "You don't sound convinced"

"Amela is it possible from a medical point of view for people to have such vivid hallucinations that make you see such crazy stuff that you think you are going to die from fear?"

The healer nodded "Yes Sweetheart, if by some means your mind gets confused and will no longer recognize what is real and what is imagined it sets your whole body into motion to respond to the situation it sees. Strong hallucinations exhaust organisms, true, but you would have to be under the influence of a very potent drug. Such things don't happen without reason"

Cynder nodded and began to pull herself up.

"Hey!" Spyro admonished his friend "Where do you think you are going?"

"To the Plaza and where do you think? I need to check if I'm crazy" she straightened up, her legs wavered slightly "Now you have a choice, either you help me get there or you're going to see how I constantly bump off everything, ground included, like a drunk. Your call, but I'm still going there"

The dragon looked at the healer meaningfully.

"At least I was right about that stubborn stuff"

*

Both the cheetah and the purple dragon observed the black dragoness curiously as she examined one of the lanterns from top to bottom for like a hundred time.

"if you would tell us what are we looking for we might help you" Spyro reminded his friend of the obvious truth another time

"How long was I out?" Cynder asked as she turned away from the lantern

"Twenty minutes" Amela replied

The dragoness moved forward awkwardly, still trying to remember how to use her legs "Spyro I need some light here"

Spyro sighed and channeled his elemental energy, they've been walking around the Plaza for a while now, using his breath to serve as a torch was a tiring thing. He spat out a cone of flame, the ground was illuminated by a fiery light in an instant, he repeated the same thing over and over again until Cynder signaled him to stop.

"You found something?" Amela inquired

She shook her head.

"Hey you over there!"

All three of them turned in the direction of the sound, an old mole was speeding their way. Strangely not bothered by Cynder's presence or perhaps his blindness was more advanced in this age.

The cheetah smiled "How can we help you?"

"Have you seen my brother? He looks like me, we're twins you know"

Colors faded from Cynder's snout.

"I'm sorry, we didn't see anyone"

"Are you sure?" the mole pointed at the lantern "He usually takes a nap under that lantern. I found our family ring but I can't seem to find him. He's a funny old coot and sometimes likes to hide from me because he knows I won't find him. Night isn't good for my eyes you know"

"May..."Cynder swallowed, the glum tone of her voice a beacon for the attention of her companions "...may I see the ring?"

"By all means have it!" the mole put the ring on the dragonesses opened paw "I hate that ugly thing anyway. Sentiments pfft!"

She raised the ring under the light of the lantern, as she turned it around shadows seemed to dance over its surface. She lowered her paw and started to look around the black sky, one thought bouncing inside her skull that she remembered someone repeating constantly.

Was the night always so grisly?