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  "description": "[b]Content Warnings: Injury, Medical Setting, Heavy Themes[/b]\n\n[i]It hasn't even been more than a season since Spyro and Cynder's climactic fight with Malefor, and the subsequent near-destruction of the world they'd grown up in. Emotions had been high as the world crumbled around them, and at that moment, Cynder had thought her confession of love would be the last words they ever shared… Yet that wasn't the end for them, and she's been dealing with the consequences of that ever since.\n\nBut while anyone else would be overjoyed for this, Cynder has been struggling to accept his love and affection in the days since, and a fateful walk in some otherwise seemingly normal woods might be about to change the very nature of their relationship entirely.[/i]\n\n[b]Author note:[/b]\nThis story is a bit of a 'what if' scenario that got away from me. Originally, I was just going to write some wish fulfillment stuff for myself, help the dragons recover from a fight, give them headpats and send them back home…\n\nBut then I started exploring ideas about how they'd react to being taken from the world they just finished saving, dealing with relationship issues arising from a headcanon of mine I won't spoil, unpacking the trauma that comes with being essentially child soldiers from different sides of a war… And suddenly it started sounding like a story worth sharing! \n\nI'll admit it's pretty niche, and I half thought about just fully writing it in the Legend of Spyro world, but-... The world after the credits in the third game is so vastly different from the rest of the games I'd be basically making a new world anyway, and I need an excuse to write about more of my original universe, so we're doing a bit of an isekai here! \n\nWe're also rewriting them to be a bit younger; the time crystal thing from the timeskip between the second and third game just felt weird to write about since they got physically older without gaining any experience of actually growing up.\n\nSo I hope you enjoy my weird little slice of life about trauma, healing, and dragon drama! \n\n\nEdited with help from [iconname]TooMuchOfABadThing[/iconname], who is simply the best for reading and encouraging me throughout this mess of a project, and I don't have enough words in the English language to describe how thankful I am for their love and support. The beautiful [url=https://inkbunny.net/s/3551776]cover art[/url] for this was provided by [url=https://baraag.net/@Cryptid_FF/]Cryptid_FF[/url]\n",
  "description_bbcode_parsed": "<span style='word-wrap: break-word;'><strong>Content Warnings: Injury, Medical Setting, Heavy Themes</strong><br /><br /><em>It hasn&#039;t even been more than a season since Spyro and Cynder&#039;s climactic fight with Malefor, and the subsequent near-destruction of the world they&#039;d grown up in. Emotions had been high as the world crumbled around them, and at that moment, Cynder had thought her confession of love would be the last words they ever shared&hellip; Yet that wasn&#039;t the end for them, and she&#039;s been dealing with the consequences of that ever since.<br /><br />But while anyone else would be overjoyed for this, Cynder has been struggling to accept his love and affection in the days since, and a fateful walk in some otherwise seemingly normal woods might be about to change the very nature of their relationship entirely.</em><br /><br /><strong>Author note:</strong><br />This story is a bit of a &#039;what if&#039; scenario that got away from me. Originally, I was just going to write some wish fulfillment stuff for myself, help the dragons recover from a fight, give them headpats and send them back home&hellip;<br /><br />But then I started exploring ideas about how they&#039;d react to being taken from the world they just finished saving, dealing with relationship issues arising from a headcanon of mine I won&#039;t spoil, unpacking the trauma that comes with being essentially child soldiers from different sides of a war&hellip; And suddenly it started sounding like a story worth sharing! <br /><br />I&#039;ll admit it&#039;s pretty niche, and I half thought about just fully writing it in the Legend of Spyro world, but-... The world after the credits in the third game is so vastly different from the rest of the games I&#039;d be basically making a new world anyway, and I need an excuse to write about more of my original universe, so we&#039;re doing a bit of an isekai here! <br /><br />We&#039;re also rewriting them to be a bit younger; the time crystal thing from the timeskip between the second and third game just felt weird to write about since they got physically older without gaining any experience of actually growing up.<br /><br />So I hope you enjoy my weird little slice of life about trauma, healing, and dragon drama! <br /><br /><br />Edited with help from \r\n\t\t\t\t\t<table style='display: inline-block; vertical-align:bottom;'>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<tr>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<td style='vertical-align: middle; border: none;'>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div style='width: 50px; height: 50px; position: relative; margin: 0px auto;'>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a style='position: relative; border: 0px;' href='https://inkbunny.net/TooMuchOfABadThing'><img class='shadowedimage' style='border: 0px;' src='https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/usericons/small/159/159083_TooMuchOfABadThing_toomuch_logo_w_dropshadow.png' width='50' height='50' alt='TooMuchOfABadThing' title='TooMuchOfABadThing' /></a>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t</div>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t</td>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<td style='vertical-align: bottom; font-size: 10pt;'>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span style='position: relative; top: 2px;'><a href='https://inkbunny.net/TooMuchOfABadThing' class='widget_userNameSmall'>TooMuchOfABadThing</a></span>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t</td>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t</tr>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t</table>, who is simply the best for reading and encouraging me throughout this mess of a project, and I don&#039;t have enough words in the English language to describe how thankful I am for their love and support. The beautiful <a href=\"https://inkbunny.net/s/3551776\" rel=\"nofollow\">cover art</a> for this was provided by <a href=\"https://baraag.net/@Cryptid_FF/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Cryptid_FF</a><br /></span>",
  "writing": "\"I think we're going in circles.\"\n\nCynder's observation didn't come lightly, her tone carrying a note of distant fear. Actually, most things didn't come lightly with her. In the days since Malefor's defeat, Spyro had been steadily getting her to open up more, but it was always an uphill battle. While not exactly shy, she wasn't very open with her thoughts. Even something as simple as stating a preference for one food over the other was a struggle sometimes, though it didn't help that this was still technically the first year of her life not spent on the end of a leash somehow or another.\n\n\"Huh? What do you mean?\" So naturally, whenever she did speak up, Spyro was all ears. The purple dragon's steps slowed to a stop as Cynder paced up to his side. \n\nThe darker scaled dragon's bright blue eyes scanned the treeline warily, her slender, whip-like body kept at attention with her vibrant dark magenta-hued wings tucked close. Sunlight glinted off the snowy white of the horns that crowned her scalp as she double-checks what she’s seeing. Forests in particular never felt safe for either of the dragons anymore. Even for a dragon like Spyro who grew up in the swampy wilderness, forests had changed now. Every bush a hiding spot, every tree a potential ambush… And this forest wasn't particularly dark, either! The sunlight filtered through autumn branches, and a light breeze carried the scent of dew from the rain yesterday. Wild animals like deer and birds were occasionally visible in the distance- but only ever the distance. Understandable, given that there was a pair of young dragons in the forest, really. \n\nYet even so, in a forest with not a hint of danger, under broad daylight, and weeks upon weeks where the biggest threat they faced was Spyro accidentally walking through a spider web in the woods-... Cynder still felt uneasy. She often had been while traveling, but Spyro still tried to listen anyway. He also jumped at shadows sometimes after spending only a year fighting apes, grublins, and whatever else Malefor's corruption had spread across the realm. Even for him, every night felt uneasy, like there could be something out there waiting on them to fall asleep again. So for a dragon like Cynder, he had always told her he’d imagine that what she was feeling was about ten times more than him, because of how long she'd been under Malefor's shadow. \n\n\"I just-...\" Her blade-tipped tail flicked briefly as she jumped to look towards another sound in the distance; a pinecone, this time. \"...I feel like I've seen this exact layout of trees before.\" Cynder finally spoke up again, picking out a particular copse of pine trees growing surprisingly close together. \"Twice, actually.\" She corrected, eyes briefly flicking over to Spyro.\n\nSpyro followed her gaze, then tilted his head. \"Hm… Weird.\" He straightened up again, snout pointing down in contemplation. \"We shouldn't be going in circles though; I've been keeping the sun on my left as we walked, just like how it was when we first got in here.\" Not that they had any particular destination in mind to know where they were going - when they'd stopped the world from ending, they ended up stranded somewhere neither of them had been before, and had mostly been wandering from landmark to landmark. \n\n\"Spyro-...\" Cynder dropped her nose a bit to match him, giving him that uneasy gaze she’d do whenever he did something particularly dangerous or foolish. \"The sun's on our right.\"\n\n\"Huh- what?\" Spyro instantly looked under him to find his shadow, then up to the canopies to pick out the sun - sure enough, the sun was now on the opposite side. It was still too early to be afternoon though, and he'd have remembered if it was noon before that - they typically tried to take a break from walking at noon. \"Oh. Huh.\" The purple dragon smiled sheepishly, unsure how he could've made such a mistake, but owned up to it all the same. \"Sorry. Guess we got turned around.\"\n\nCynder closed her eyes and took a deep breath before snorting. Curse that smile of his-... She couldn't be upset at all with his dorky grin. \"You're so-...\" She trailed off, unable to even find words. This hadn't been the first time they ended up lost, turned around, or otherwise just going the wrong direction. It was only the first time today at least, so they had that going for them.\n\n\"Guess that explains why things look so familiar, huh?\" Spyro chuckled, glancing around the forest once again as they turned around. His tail brushed hers, and she cracked a little smile as he passed - but she paused before following. \n\n\"...Know what though? New plan.\" The dark-scaled dragon sauntered right up to the same trees she'd pointed out earlier, reared up on her hind legs, and then dug her claws into the trunk, leaving a trail of gashes tinged with poisonous green in the bark-... And a layer of sap on the paw responsible. \"This way-\" Cynder began as she shook her forepaw, trying to get the gunk off. \"If we see a tree with claw marks, we'll know that we'd-...\" She paused again, diverting her attention to the sap on her digits and sighing irritably before licking it to try and clean it off, making a face as she did. Pine sap was the worst.\n\n\"This way we'll know we'd been here.\" Spyro finished the thought for her as he approached, then smiled at her as she finally cleaned the gunk off with a look on her face that betrayed her regret for using her tongue. \"Good thinking Cynder.\" He beamed, which only served to make her blush and look away with a snort. \"But uh-... Next time let's not claw up a pine. They tend to kinda-...\"\n\n\"Bleed everywhere, yeah.\" Cynder managed a weak little laugh at herself, but Spyro nudged her cheek with his snout supportively, nuzzling up against her. \"Careful there, you're gonna get sap on your nose.\" She warned, almost managing to sound playful. He took that as a challenge.\n\n\"Oh yeah? What if I wanted to get all stuck to you though?\" Spyro teased, licking her cheek, but the sudden narrowing of her gaze told him to stop.\n\n\"Please don't joke about that.\" She spoke directly, and in an instant he cleared his throat and nodded, lifting himself back away from her.\n\n\"Oh, right, we did that before and-\"\n\n\"The snake collars, yeah.\"\n\n\"Yeah, no, let's not do that again.\" Spyro agreed as he nodded several times, looking downwards as he gave a pained smile. Cynder wondered how he could forget the week or so they'd been magically tethered to each other by the neck. It had been so-... Formative? It felt weird thinking of it that way, but she was pretty sure she would've kept running from her past without having been physically tied down to it. It was still a bad memory though, and felt bad too-... And Cynder knew he was multiplying it by ten as he realized it wasn’t the first time she’d been chained up. She could see it in his eyes as he opened his muzzle again. \"...Sorry, didn't mean to uh-...\"\n\n\"It's alright.\" Cynder said simply, taking a deep breath after as she stepped back up to him, and nudged him with a shoulder, giving him a partially forced smile to try and reassure him she was okay. \"Let's just get moving again.\" She suggested, and he nodded several times. A few steps later, his tail curled gently around hers as they walked together, this time keeping the sun on their left.\n\n\"...So what do you wanna do for dinner?\" Spyro broke the silence again after a minute, glancing Cynder's way as they walked. \"If we find that river we saw, I could probably jolt it with lightning and get us some salmon,\" he offered. She could tell he was trying to cheer her up as she kept her attention on the forest ahead of them.\n\n\"Hm? Oh, yeah, uh-...\" Cynder paused, blinking once as she processed the question. \"...What's a salmon? That some kind of bird, or-...?\"\n\n\"Oh, no, sorry.\" Spyro apologized out of habit, then explained: \"A salmon is a fish- it's a big silvery one with a red belly. Tastes really good charred.\" \n\n\"...I don't think I've had fish in a while.\" Cynder hummed, thinking for a moment as she listened to the sound of oak leaves crunching underfoot while they walked. \"What if we don't find the river? Do we split another deer?\" She didn't like the idea of having to stalk another one of those giants with him. Their bright purple and magenta scales both kind of stuck out in this sea of orange and yellow fall forest, and there weren't enough crystals sprouting up here to use a ton of magic. Even if she used her shadows to dive and close the distance, she'd be out of breath by the time she came back up, assuming she could even hold her breath in the shadows long enough to get under one. If Spyro was a bit better at sneaking, his icicles could probably take one out at a distance, but all said-\n\n\"Nah.\" Spyro had another idea though. \"If we can't get fish, I'm thinking of going back for that boar we saw.\" He grinned. \"Those tusks looked tough; kinda wanna see if me and my earth shield can still hold up against 'em. Keep myself in shape!\"\n\n\"Spyro I-...\" Cynder wanted to interject, but she paused and thought it over instead. \"Well-... Boars tend to run away less than deer do, so we wouldn't waste as much time.\" She hummed briefly, eyes flicking from point to point on the path as her gaze lowered in thought, then jerked back up to look at him. \"But what if it gets through your shield? You could get hurt…\"\n\n\"Nothing some red gems wouldn't fix.\" Spyro shrugged, smiling confidently.\n\n\"There haven't been that many around this forest, though.\" Cynder warned, looking concerned. \"If you got seriously injured, we'd-...\" She kept trailing off.\n\n\"Well, I can heal a little at the first one we find, then I’ll walk the rest of the way to the next one.\" Spyro reasoned, then smiled. \"Plus, all that is assuming it even hurts me in the first place. It's just a boar, not a monster.\" The unspoken fact being that at this point, they'd fought legions of monsters and still survived somehow.\n\n\"Spyro-...\" Cynder began, her pace slowing.\n\n\"I know, I know, It's still a boar.\" Spyro nodded, well expecting the counterpoint as they slowed to a stop. \"But it'll be two of us against one boar, how could we lose?\"\n\n\"No, Spyro-...\"\n\n\"Come on, Cynder! It's just a- ow!\" Spyro blinked as her wing slapped him. \"What was that for?\"\n\n\"Spyro, look.\" She directed his attention up to one of the pine trees. It was the one they marked earlier.\n\n\"What…?\" Spyro stared at it, blinking as the weight of it sank in. \"But that doesn't-\" He stumbled over his words as he stepped closer. \"We're still going the same way! How did-\" He looked from his shadow, then to the sky. The sun was still on their left, but now they were back at the trees again somehow. Plus, they'd come from the same side they just left! Even weirder, the claw marks she left had been in the sun before, but now they were on the shady side. That entire copse of trees was backward! \"How the heck did it-...\"\n\n\"Spyro.\" But Cynder was still staring up at the tree, transfixed. \"How many claws do I have?\"\n\n\"What?\" The question caught him off guard. \"Uh, four. Same as me, same as every other dragon. Why do you-...?\" He asked, now pacing up to look at what she was looking at, and he blinked. \"Oh.\"\n\nOn the tree was a series of gashes that cut deep into the bark, each in a parallel line as you'd expect a claw swipe… but it took him a second to realize there were five of them. \"I thought you only clawed it once.\" He asked more than said, clearly confused.\n\n\"I did, yeah, but look-...\" Cynder reared up and placed her paw along the lines she'd cut, then shifted them over to measure. The distance, shape, depth were all identical, as if part of her attack had been duplicated. \"These marks even have the same poison in them as my claws make…\" She stared at the gashes on the tree, watching the way the sap oozed and reacted with the faint marks of acid. It was uncanny…\n\nShe turned back to Spyro, and as she did-\n\n---\n\n\"...Mnngh...\" \n\nCynder felt dazed as her eyes groggily fluttered open again, finding herself laying on her side, sinking into a cool, soft surface. It took a minute to focus her eyes again, but once they had she saw a dark, unfamiliar room that was dimly lit in warm amber lighting. She tried to move, but even just lifting her head to look around felt like trying to lift a mountain. Everything had a dull ache to it, and every thought felt like it was being dragged through mud. She couldn't remember having fallen asleep, or even having gone anywhere. If she closed her eyes and really focused she could remember being in a forest, and a vague sense that something had been wrong... But the last things she remembered felt hazy and unsettling; a foggy vision of something trying to suffocate her in a bad dream - making the fact she was in an unfamiliar place feel all the more uncomfortable and frightening. \n\nAnd yet, nothing here looked dangerous. It looked strange and alien, sure, but remarkably similar to the interior of those few homes that the other races lived in. The room was in a rigid, blocky style with ashen white and black tones. There was a large cabinet, drawers below a mirror, shelves... Lighting came from small upside-down braziers or something similar - they were cone shaped things that lined the bottom of the wall, casting a steady, unnatural amber light on the floor. They didn't flicker, so the light was probably coming from crystals.\n\nShe was laying on a bed with smooth sheets in a pale blue color, her head having rested on two pillows that had a straw mat over them, dented where her horns had been jabbing it. There was a dull, constant hissing noise coming from somewhere, and the earthy scent of rain permeated the room- probably because her scales were caked in mud for some reason. She could see a door somewhere off past the foot of the bed, and there might've been a second up by the head, just past that end table, but-\n\nA sudden snort caused her aching head to jolt up and crane to look behind her, towards the side her body wasn't facing - there, she saw an armchair, and in it an individual who had fallen asleep in their seat. They were an anthropomorphic creature, like the cheetahs and fauns - Cynder counted two legs at rest, two arms spread out hanging limp over the arms of the chair, and one head laying uncomfortably slouched back on the cushions. It was hard to tell what species, since they wore thick, multi-layered tattered robes in a dark grape color, and had on a bone white mask with orange markings and a long snout, but after a moment staring she at least caught a faint twitch of dirty orange fur from behind their leg, and a fluffy tail tipped in white. Her best guess was that he was some kind of canine. In his lap was an open book with a detailed diagram of a dragon on one page, the diagram showing green scales and a large wingspan, and on the opposite page was a dense wall of words that made her head spin to even look at. \n\nCynder at first thought to call out, but as she tried to, her voice croaked weakly. She sounded pitiful, and she still wasn't entirely convinced she was safe, so she instead turned to look elsewhere, finding that this room also had a sofa next to a sparsely populated bookshelf. In front of it was a stand with some kind of illuminated-... Standing painting-... Box thing with another two diagrams of a dragon, the one on the left having-... Six horns exactly like hers, and a tail scythe and wing tips just like hers. But while she was used to seeing artwork of herself in her darker form, this one was glowing, as though made from magic. Interestingly, and in fact frighteningly, it was of her as she had been ever since Malefor’s control of her was first severed. Even stranger, it took her a minute to realize that the image was moving- lines and numbers were constantly adjusting in ways she couldn’t understand. \n\nCynder stared at this for far longer than maybe she should have trying to figure out what it could mean, but then after a brief moment, a realization hit her. \n\nShe didn't see Spyro.\n\nShe checked around one more time as the tension grew - she was alone in a strange place she didn't remember, clearly injured, and he wasn't anywhere to be seen. A million possibilities hit her like an avalanche, was he hurt? Did he know where she was? Had she been kidnapped? Had HE been kidnapped? \n\nCynder craned her head back around to look at the masked person, wondering if he was responsible for her state. She strained to try and remember, but all she recalled was being in a forest with Spyro, getting lost, and then-... Nothing. Beyond that, it was just a mess of foggy mixed up sensations that didn't quite add up.\n\nShe tried again to move, flexing her limbs, trying to lift her wings, anything, but everything felt limp and sluggish, like she was trying to move through quicksand, but-... She'd been through worse, she could push through this. Claws dug into the sheets, pushing herself forward and-\n\n\"Wh- Oh no please don't-!\" The individual in the chair had woken up, and as she heard them move, her instincts surged to try and get away-... but, too slow. They were in front of her before she could make her escape. She recoiled and hissed, expecting them to try and grab her, expecting chains and collars and muzzles\n\nBut the two-legged animal in the mask recoiled too, keeping their distance as they spoke. \"Please don't try to get up.\" Their voice was on the deep side, intent but not imposing, and fairly male. Now that he was standing, he also seemed physically masculine as well, at first blush - though she was never completely certain with the two-legged creatures. He kept his hands visible, lowering himself to her level as she stared at him with suspicion. \"Okay?\" \n\n\"Where's-...\" Words came slow and hard, creaking like a rope under tension, and she had to take a moment to just pant. \n\n\"Where… are you?\" The man finished for her, but she shook her head - or at least, she shook it as best as she could.\n\n\"Sph-... Spyro.\" Cynder had to focus even to get that word out.\n\n\"Spiral- uh-...\" the two-legged creature said, trying to copy her. Cynder was frustrated watching the man in the tattered robes try to understand her, infuriated even. Was he playing dumb or- \"Where's sp- oh! You mean your brother; the other dragon?\" The man snapped his fingers as he seemed to finally get it.\n\nCynder snorted. 'Spiral.' Didn't he recognize the hero who'd saved them all? Whatever. She nodded slightly, her eyes remaining narrow, her balance still shaky\n\n\"He's okay, don't worry.\" The man reassured her, pointing with his fingers. \"Or he will be-\" He corrected as his hands pulled back to his chest, \"he was a bit more torn up than you, so they're having to heal him in the next room, where we have better equipment,\" he explained. He exhaled a sigh that made his mask hiss as Cynder felt her blood run cold. \"I can take you to see him if you'd like, I just wasn't sure if-\" He stopped short, turning aside. \"Why am I still wearing my mask? It's too hot for this.\" \n\nThe two-legged man grunted as his hands reached up behind and pulled his hood down, then as they rose back up to the straps of his mask to pull it off, shaking his head afterwards. Behind the mask was a canine of some kind - like a fox, though many Spyro and her had met all used different names for themselves when they stood vertically. She had no idea what this one would have been called.He had burnt-orange fur with white markings down his neck, that fur on his muzzle pressed flat by the lingering imprint of his mask. His pointed ears flicked as he combed a hand through his messy brown hair and pulled it from the collar of his robes, letting its length fall down his back, long like his tail. He exhaled again, then gave her a tired smile.\n\n\"Sorry about that, love - I'm normally a little more together than this, but I literally finished carrying the two of you inside not twenty minutes ago.\" He explained as his tail gave a few gentle wags. \"Not used to saving two people at once, bit more of a workout than I'm used to. Uh-...\" The man bounced a bit as Cynder snorted impatiently. \"Right, want me to carry you to your brother now, or did you-...?\" \n\n…Brother. He said that earlier, hadn’t he? Whatever, yes, of course she wanted to go to Spyro - even if it took conscious effort to nod, she needed to see him. \"...Yes.\"\n\n\"Gotcha. Uh-...\" The man clapped his hands, then stood and walked closer. \"Lotus didn't see any physical injuries, but let me know if anything hurts.\" The man gently reached over and around her, tucking her wings in again and helping roll her over before lifting her up, putting her head over one shoulder as he lifted her up into his arms.\n\nCynder had never been picked up by a two-legged creature before - at least, not in a friendly way - and it was weird to remember just how tall they were, compared to her. Even if her tail dragged on the floor, she was probably only half his size, and maybe two thirds his height if she'd stood up on her hind legs. The softness of his fur under those thick robes felt weird, like being hugged by one of the nests they had back at the dragon temple. She felt small, and uncomfortable. It was humiliating and just-... Weird. No matter how gentle he was, he was still a stranger, carrying her while she was too weak to do much more than lift her head and keep her shaking legs under her.\n\n\"There you go, all good? You can growl at me or anything if you need like-... to tell me something’s wrong.\" He spoke quickly and nervously, but different from how she was used to other races talking around her. It felt different, like he wasn't afraid of her at all, but more anxious for her. It was weird. He was weird.\n\nEither way, she wanted him to shut up and get moving, and thankfully he did after regarding her for a moment, hefting the dragon up and heading to the door, which opened when he approached. Outside this room the lights were a bit brighter, this time coming from glowing tiles in the ceiling, illuminating a carpeted hallway that was wider than she'd have expected for two-legged creatures; it was almost as big as those at the dragon temple even, and the walls were made of some sort of smooth white stone. Along the wall hung boxes holding growing plants, and further back it seemed to open into a seating area with bookshelves and even more potted plants. The hall seemed to extend onward and around the bend, but their destination was only down the hallway a short distance, and the darker grey stone door slid open as they approached it.\n\nThis next room resembled the previous in color scheme, but was lit more brightly, and featured far less furniture. And there in the center lit brighter than anywhere else was a table, or perhaps an altar with a slate grey color, and atop it-\n\n\"Spyro-...!\" Cynder immediately leaned forward as she saw him, squirming to get free.\n\n\"Hey- Woah! Calm down, you're gonna-\" The man holding her tried to calm her, but it was of little use. She needed to see him, he was hurt, and-\n\n\"Cease.\" Cynder jolted as another voice spoke - firm, but soft. It hadn't been that loud, but somehow it rattled her-... And the man carrying her, apparently.\n\nWhat was weird was she hadn't seen anyone else in the room when they entered, but pacing around the table was another two-legged creature, this one another kind she didn't recognize. They had scales and horns, but stood on two legs and also had hair. They weren't a snake - were they a lizard maybe? But the horns-...\n\nThe tall, sleek green-scaled individual had smooth golden horns with sharp angles, and a wide snout. Their build was different from the one carrying her, in a way that Cynder remembered being considered more feminine for two-legged types. Was this one female? Lighter jade scales began down her neck, and she wore a smooth, silken dress robe with golden designs. She looked so outlandish, it was strange Cynder hadn't noticed her sooner.\n\n\"...You brought her in here. Are you stupid?\" The new person's dark green eyes examined Cynder and the one holding her. \n\n\"She was about to fall out of bed trying to find him.\" The man explained as Cynder slowly started to move again, this time much more cautiously. \"And she looked about ready to bite me when I tried stopping her.\"\n\nAn irritable sigh, the woman pinched the bridge of her snout. \"...Luckily, I wasn't performing surgery or anything that required concentration.\" She spoke in the same tone of voice one of the other dragons would talk to Cynder in - that condescending tone that supposedly meant they cared. It failed to be convincing, in her opinion. \"I'm nearly done. You may approach, but if you touch him - either of you - I will remove you from the room. He is in a delicate state right now, and if you disturb him, he may even die.\"\n\nCynder felt a weight drop in her stomach at those words. Tension coiled in her muscles as she leaned around to try and view the purple dragon, but a moment later they'd been beckoned forward.\n\nSpyro looked like he was asleep, but was laid out in an uncomfortable position, his wings spread behind him. Some of his scales also had dirt caked on them, but others had been wiped clean to reveal angry red marks with pale, chalky edges across his body - a few of which had been bandaged already, but several the woman was only now getting to. Cynder easily recognized the type of burns as having come from a powerful acid - acid like the kind in her poison breath and claw strikes.\n\n\"...What happened?\" she managed. The pit in her stomach only grew as she wondered this aloud - had she done this? \n\n\"Unsure.\" The woman replied simply as she continued to work. \"The wounds are consistent with chemical burns, if you want to speculate, but I'm a bit busy making sure none of these get infected. They're pretty severe and we can't use magic.\"\n\n\"I found both of you alone in the middle of a field, unconscious and half-buried in mud. I have no idea what could've happened.\" The fox answered too, adjusting his hold around Cynder. \"...Why do you say he might die though? I thought it was just burns and Wyld erosion-\" His eyes moved from point to point across Spyro's body, never seeming to sit still until he looked back up at the other person. \"Did you find something else?\"\n\n\"Well, like her, he seems to have been hypoxic at one point, but his lungs are damaged far worse than hers were, and still had liquid water in them.\" The reptile healer explained as she worked to wrap one of his forelimbs in gauze and a poultice of some kind. \"We prioritized those injuries first, and as such, clearing up all that fluid has left him too weak for more magic just yet.\"\n\n\"Will-...\" Cynder swallowed hard, her voice hoarse and uneven. \"Will he be okay?\" She almost didn't want to ask - she barely understood what had happened to him, or why they couldn't use magic or crystals like the apes… But she had to know.\n\n\"Yes.\" The confidence behind the healer woman's words was direct and simple.\n\n\"Yeah, it's okay.\" The fox also nodded in reply. \"I know it sounds serious, but trust me- your brother's okay. They know what they're doing.\"\n\n\"...Okay.\" Cynder swallowed, exhaling a little as she heard that, but still felt worried seeing Spyro this way. \"...But he's not my brother.\"\n\n\"Oh?\" The fox's ears perked a bit. \"You sure?\"\n\nCynder snorted. \"We're not. He's-...\" She coughed, then had to take a breath before she could continue. \"Really important to me, but he's not-...\" She trailed off-... Why was talking so hard? She felt out of breath already. \"He's-...\"\n\n\"Well, Lotus said you were siblings, but-...\" The fox shrugged, the distinction not seeming to matter much to him with everything going on \"Anyway, he's going to be okay, he just needs time to rest. We can use magic to heal him after he’s regained some of his strength, but he's a bit too weak for anything more for now.\"\n\nCynder blinked, looking towards the man holding her with a confused expression. They couldn't heal him-... Because he was too hurt? That didn't make sense-... But she was feeling really weak too. More than she should have been. Just what exactly had happened to them?\n\n\"...You seem calmer now.\" The fox noted with a gentle smile as he looked down at her. \"Would it be okay if we sat down now? Perhaps get you some water? You sound absolutely parched…\" He offered, then corrected himself a beat later. \"In this room, I mean. I'm not going to try to take you away from him, but-... Well, I can't carry you forever either, so-...\" \n\nAfter a moment, Cynder nodded, watching as they stepped away from Spyro's side and to a set of chairs she'd not noticed when they came in. By now she was beginning to get control back in some of her limbs, so as he set her down in the cushioned throne, she helped prop herself up as he then reached to the table beside her and collected a glass jug of water, as well as a bowl from the set that had been conveniently left for such an occasion, and poured. \n\n\"You must have a lot of questions by now, I know.\" The fox said softly as he poured, and gently held the bowl for her to drink from, also supporting her head. \"I can feel the tension in your muscles… This must be terribly frightening. Like a bad dream…\"\n\nThe dark dragoness huffed a bit at the way he was talking to her, so condescending and patronizing - but she drank eagerly anyway, if only so she could speak clearly again. He was so-... Oddly patient with her as he poured again and offered it to her. After a few swallows, she raised her head. \"...Why are you doing this for me?\" She finally managed a full sentence this time, gaze averted as she spoke. \"Just... who are you?\"\n\nThe man chuckled a bit. \"Well, because it is my job, first off.\"\n\n\"It really isn't.\" The other woman interjected with a tearing of gauze, and a derisive look that made Cynder jump a little. \"Don't lie.\" The scaled woman was being so quiet as she worked that somehow Cynder had even forgotten she was there at all.\n\n\"Alright, alright. Well, it's more my self-appointed job, at least.\" The fox corrected with a huff, then smiled again at Cynder. \"I am Kaseiko Vinceri, Oracle of the Present. You may call me Kasi if you like though.\" He looked towards the woman attending the other dragon. \"And over there is my colleague, uh-... Well, actually, I should let her decide if she wants to share her name.\" \n\nThere was a pause as she continued to work wordlessly, before Kasi let his head tilt awkwardly. \"...And I think that's a no. Don't take it personally. In her line of work, she has to be very picky about who she forms bonds with,\" he explained as he returned his gaze to Cynder.\n\nCynder nodded slowly. She didn't blame the lizard lady; most people were hesitant to have a dark dragon around, so it was kind of expected that at least one person might distrust her. If anything, being distrusted was the most normal thing that had happened so far. \"My name is Cynder,\" she introduced herself, though she was fairly certain they knew it already.\n\n\"That's a beautiful name, Cynder. Reminds me of a campfire. It’s a pleasure to meet you.\" Or, apparently not. Cynder stared at the fox with suspicion, but Kasi seemed to be genuinely smiling at her. None of the false smiles or veiled fear she had grown so accustomed to. He really did think it was a nice name. Somehow, he must have completely missed hearing about her. \"Would it be okay if I asked the name of your, um-...\" He lingered, making a motion towards Spyro.\n\n\"That's Spyro. He's-...\" Cynder looked towards the table with a forlorn gaze. \"My friend.\" She took a breath then added another question of her own. \"...Why'd you think he was my brother? We don't look anything alike.\"\n\n\"Well, that's because Lotus is pretty sure you two are.\" Kaseiko explained as Cynder turned her gaze back to him. \"Lotus had a look at you both when you came in, and-...\" He raised a hand as he spoke, then bounced his finger as his gaze drifted before snapping back. \"Actually, lemme just show you what they said.\" The fox crossed his legs and sat down, turning so his back was against the base of her chair. Once his hands were free again, they met together in front of him, and he touched his thumbs and index fingers together to make a rectangle. As he spread them apart again, Cynder jumped as a sheet of yellow-white energy formed into a pane of glass that floated weightlessly in front of him.\n\nCynder had, of course, seen magic before, but it was typically a lot more-... Obvious than this. If you weren't a dragon, magic required crystals and an implement like a staff, or at least some kind of wand, but he'd just done this with his hands! What's more is that as she watched, images appeared on it and danced for him, runes darting around as he tapped and slid his finger on it. Not even Malefor or his ritualists used spells so complex as this.\n\n\"How did-...\" Cynder began to ask, enraptured, then shook her head as the question failed to form. \"What-...\" But that died in her throat too, the dark-scaled dragoness unable to do much more than stare as the fox soon made the spell produce two images of herself, as seen from two different angles. They matched up perfectly with the strange images she'd seen of herself on that box in the other room, perfectly accurate versions of herself as viewed from above and below. She barely had words to describe it.\n\n\"So, here's the report Lotus gave me on you.\" Kaseiko began again, touching along the illuminated image as text appeared, though Cynder could only understand some of it - there were too many big words she'd never learned floating in the magic pane. \"They start with the usual stuff - that you're a dragon, aged somewhere around ten to thirteen years old. They measured your height, weight, length, wingspan-...\" He ran his finger up the text's surface, moving more text onto the panel to read. \"But the important bit is here.\" He pointed at a blocky, uneven line with colors on it. \"This is your-...\" He trailed off for a second, his head leaning as he thought. \"Let's call them your unique identifying markers. It's a measurement of your blood that tells us about the rest of you. There's a lot of information we could get from this, like what color scales, eyes, and horns you have and how big you're probably gonna grow, but the important bit is that everyone has markers like this, and most of them come from your parents.\" \n\nParents… Cynder never knew her parents. She'd never even really thought about it, but it made sense that dragons would have parents too. Being under Malefor's regime, the only people with parents she'd seen were-... \n\nShe tried to put the thought aside but it came right back. Others had parents. If she had parents, they'd have been dragons, and she and Gaul's army had killed almost all the dragons. She'd have killed her parents. She'd probably killed Spyro's real parents, too.\n\n\"...You alright?\" Cynder raised her head - Kaseiko had stopped to turn to her, giving her a concerned look. \"If you need me to stop for now, or explain more, we can-\"\n\n\"N-no, no. I'm fine.\" She lied quickly, giving her attention back to the fox. \"I think I understand. Go on.\"\n\nKaseiko lingered a moment more. That gaze made her uncomfortable - the way an adult looks before they ask if you're sure, then proceed to grill you about trust and- \"Well, alright.\" He smiled again instead. \"Don't be afraid to stop me if you need to though. I know this is a lot for you emotionally, and I'm trying my best to keep this all understandable for the average person. But it's kinda complicated, and I know you're not having the best day.\" He explained as he turned his attention back to the image he made. \"...And I'm trying to keep it brief. Gods know I could rattle on for hours about any one thing here.\"\n\nKaseiko flicked his tail as he recollected himself. \"Anyway, these markers are all inherited from your parents. We can even subdivide them to show which came from your father, and what parts are from your mother.\" He stroked the lines briefly, and one set became painted in green, and the other in yellow. \"And if we look at your friend Spyro’s markers...\" Kasi reached and pinched the edge of the light, pulling it and reshaping it to be wider, then touched a series of runes to bring up another series of blocky uneven lines. \n\nCynder blinked. Her mouth went dry as she stared. \"They're the same...\" She mumbled, then took a breath. Her muscles tensed a bit. \"Does that mean that-... B-but I thought-...\" She shook her head. \"There's gotta be some kind of mistake, Spyro's not my...\" \n\nThe fox leaned an arm on the chair she was sitting on, gazing up at her from below still. \"There's no mistaking it. Lotus always double checks their work before sending it. I could have them do it again, but it's probably just going to show the same things as right here.\" He offered with a sympathetic, if awkward smile. \"I'm gonna guess you didn't come from the same egg together, but considering your ages, you probably shared a nest at least.\" \n\n\"But-...\" Cynder was struggling. She didn't know how to feel about this. She'd never had parents, never had a family to speak of, barely could accept that she had a friend... And now she had a brother. A brother who she loved dearly. Too dearly. \"Spyro's my-...\" Her words choke in her mouth.\n\nThinking back on it, it was possible. Frustratingly possible. She'd never been told specifically how many eggs a dragon would lay at once, but the sheer fact they had the word 'clutch' to describe multiple eggs was telling. She'd learned from the occasional bird or snake nest they hunted that other creatures laid multiple too. \n\nWhen the guardians spoke of the way they had brought the eggs together in preparation for the birth of the purple dragon, she'd assumed that this meant each egg was from a different set of parents but... Nobody had ever said anything about that. There was no limit mentioned, no sign anyone held any egg back from this event. \n\nCynder could feel herself shiver as she tried desperately to find some reason this wasn't possible; she'd assumed for so long that they weren't related at all - how could they be? Looking at herself, she was so much more... Different than every other dragon. Six horns, dark scales, a long tail with a sharpened tip - she wasn't like any of the others. She wasn't like him. She couldn't possibly be anything like him! Not when she'd done so many-... He was so much better that-...\n\n…But if he really was her brother... What did that mean for her now? What did that mean for them both? What were-\n\n\"You don't look happy…\" Kaseiko brought her back to reality, adjusting how he sat. \"Is something wrong?\" Cynder snorted at the question, averting her gaze to the dark corner of the room. How could she even begin to explain this to him? \n\nNevermind this fox guy, how was she going to tell Spyro? What would he say? \n\n\"Cynder-...\"\n\nUgh. Why did she have to be so weak right now? She wanted nothing better than to get away from this and just be alone. But about all she could muster was to push herself a bit further back in the seat with a frustrated growl. \n\n\"I didn't mean to upset you. I'm sorry.\" Kaseiko just... Kept talking. He just didn't quit. It was practically as bad as one of the guardian dragons. It made her muscles clench and her tail flick - she was trying to tune him out, but-\n\n\"...You obviously care a lot about him, I can feel it in your eyes... but I'm not sure how that could be a bad thing just because he's your brother, unless like-\"\n\nA bolt of lightning shot up Cynder's spine as every muscle tensed. \"Stop.\" She snapped, shooting him a glare. \"Just stop talking...\" Her voice came out with more of a quiver than she expected as she again looked away. \"...Please.\" \n\n\"...Okay.\" Finally, Kaseiko listened, and was quiet for a moment. She heard him move to get up, but only just to sit in the chair opposite the small table from her. She heard another quiet buzz as he must've brought up another of those squares of light, and settled back into the chair. Irritating he didn't just leave, too - he was honestly worse than...\n\nCynder's gaze drifted to the table and the vibrant purple dragon that was laying so peacefully there. In some ways, he was just as infuriating. Persistent to a fault, and so... Very stupidly earnest. He'd never shut up either when they first began together, always chasing after her, trying to talk... \n\nHe was a ray of sunlight in a dark cave - bright and painful, annoying in every sense of the word, but... Warm, too. She'd come to love that about him - envied him for it, really. That was why she thought it was so impossible that they were related. How could he even be remotely related to someone like her? She'd done so many things that...\n\nCynder blinked as that scaled woman drifted into view again, still hard at work. Somehow she'd actually almost forgotten she was there at all. She'd been so quiet that it'd been like she'd left the room entirely, and yet there she was lifting one of his paws and wrapping it gingerly. \n\n\"Is-... That Lotus over there?\" Cynder wondered aloud after a moment, and she heard Kaseiko perk up with a questioning hum. \"The-... One working on Spyro, I mean. Is she Lotus?\" She couldn't quite remember that conversation earlier, but if this person was Lotus, maybe she could ask where those unique markers even came from. Maybe there was something wrong with the way they'd measured this... Blood marker thing.\n\n\"Oh, you mean her? No. No, she's not Lotus.\" Kaseiko answered, and she heard the woman herself give a brief chuckle. \n\n\"I'm flattered you'd think of me that way, but no.\" The woman accented her words with a tearing of gauze. \"I'm not Lotus.\" There was a certain frustration in her tone, too.\n\n\"Oh.\" Cynder deflated a bit, glancing away again. \"...Then who is Lotus?\" She directed this question towards Kaseiko. \n\n\"Lotus is...\" Kaseiko sat back, giving a thoughtful hum for a moment as he stared ahead. \"Lotus is complicated to explain, but essentially, they're a group of elementals that helps us. The city we're in is named after them.\" The fox flicked his tail. \"I'll have to introduce you later, because it's kind of a lot to go over all at once.\"\n\n\"So Lotus is... More than one person?\" Cynder asked to be sure, and Kasi nodded. \"Okay.\" Cynder sighed. \"...But they're the ones that looked at me and Spyro? And-... They're sure we're-...\"\n\n\"Yes.\" Point-blank certainty from the fox.\n\nCynder sank again, resting her head on the arm of the chair, closing her eyes. This was so-... Wrong. It felt like a bad dream she couldn't wake up from. It was just exhausting. Awful. And she was so weak right now, so tired... But she couldn't sleep like this. Her mind was still racing, and she couldn't help staring longingly towards Spyro, wishing he were awake to discuss this with. She needed him to be okay again.\n\n\"...How long until he wakes up?\" She finally asked, her voice meek, crushed under the weight of so many emotions she barely had words for.\n\n\"Well,\" Cynder had directed the question towards the scaled stranger, but Kaseiko answered again for her as she finished bandaging the last of Spyro's wounds. \"We're keeping him under a magical sleep so he's not in pain - otherwise, he'd probably be awake right now, same as you.\" The fox explained. \"After he's had about a day of rest, we can use magical healing again without making things worse for him. Once we've done that, we can probably wake him. He's going to be really tired from all this, and he’ll probably want to sleep the entire day, but... Yeah. I'd say by next morning he'll be awake again, and if not then, by sundown at the latest.\" \n\nA whole day… Healing without gems was such a terrible, slow process. At least she knew that he wasn't going to be gone for long. \"Okay.\" Cynder nodded weakly, still staring Spyro’s way. \n\nFor a time, they were both quiet. She could hear Kaseiko touching that floating pane of magic glass occasionally, but he was giving her space now. \n\n\"...You know,\" Or at least he was a minute ago. \"You're still covered in mud and I know your muscles ache. I bet a warm bath might help you feel better.\"  Cynder didn't respond, so he continued. \"There's a room with a tub just over there.\" He motioned to a doorway just past the table. \"And I can leave the door open so you can keep watch over him. There's no point in us just sitting here feeling bad - wouldn’t he want you to take care of yourself, too?\"\n\nCynder felt indignant for a moment. She wanted to push back, but... He was right. And she was tired. So very, very tired. She could lift her head now, and stretch too, but... \"I don't think I can walk yet,\" she huffed.\n\n\"Then I can carry you again.\" Kaseiko offered with a gentle smile once more. \"Would that be okay with you?\"\n\nCynder was quiet for a moment longer, then sighed and nodded before looking up towards Spyro one last time. \"Will he be okay in here on his own?\"\n\n\"Hm?\" The fox perked his ears as he stood up. \"On his-?\"\n\n\"I'm still here.\" The other person - that green scaled woman - spoke up again as Kaseiko crossed in front of Cynder. \"Worry about yourself for now, little mortal. He will be okay.\" \n\nLittle... What? Cynder was feeling pretty silly for having forgotten about that person again, but she wasn't quite sure she heard her right. It sounded like she called her 'mortal', but then that would imply-... Ah, but then Kaseiko was helping her up, again, which definitely made her feel small. Small, helpless, and pitiful. \n\n\"...Thanks,\" she mumbled weakly, as the two-legged stranger carefully lifted her up in his arms again. \n\n\"Of course.\" Kaseiko smiled. \"And thank you for trusting me, Cynder.\"\n\nThose words stung. She didn’t know enough to trust him about anything. And if he was right… She could very well lose every good thing she thought she had. At least, she reminded herself, Spyro was safe. Everything else, she hoped, they could figure out later…\n",
  "writing_bbcode_parsed": "<span style='word-wrap: break-word;'>&quot;I think we&#039;re going in circles.&quot;<br /><br />Cynder&#039;s observation didn&#039;t come lightly, her tone carrying a note of distant fear. Actually, most things didn&#039;t come lightly with her. In the days since Malefor&#039;s defeat, Spyro had been steadily getting her to open up more, but it was always an uphill battle. While not exactly shy, she wasn&#039;t very open with her thoughts. Even something as simple as stating a preference for one food over the other was a struggle sometimes, though it didn&#039;t help that this was still technically the first year of her life not spent on the end of a leash somehow or another.<br /><br />&quot;Huh? What do you mean?&quot; So naturally, whenever she did speak up, Spyro was all ears. The purple dragon&#039;s steps slowed to a stop as Cynder paced up to his side. <br /><br />The darker scaled dragon&#039;s bright blue eyes scanned the treeline warily, her slender, whip-like body kept at attention with her vibrant dark magenta-hued wings tucked close. Sunlight glinted off the snowy white of the horns that crowned her scalp as she double-checks what she&rsquo;s seeing. Forests in particular never felt safe for either of the dragons anymore. Even for a dragon like Spyro who grew up in the swampy wilderness, forests had changed now. Every bush a hiding spot, every tree a potential ambush&hellip; And this forest wasn&#039;t particularly dark, either! The sunlight filtered through autumn branches, and a light breeze carried the scent of dew from the rain yesterday. Wild animals like deer and birds were occasionally visible in the distance- but only ever the distance. Understandable, given that there was a pair of young dragons in the forest, really. <br /><br />Yet even so, in a forest with not a hint of danger, under broad daylight, and weeks upon weeks where the biggest threat they faced was Spyro accidentally walking through a spider web in the woods-... Cynder still felt uneasy. She often had been while traveling, but Spyro still tried to listen anyway. He also jumped at shadows sometimes after spending only a year fighting apes, grublins, and whatever else Malefor&#039;s corruption had spread across the realm. Even for him, every night felt uneasy, like there could be something out there waiting on them to fall asleep again. So for a dragon like Cynder, he had always told her he&rsquo;d imagine that what she was feeling was about ten times more than him, because of how long she&#039;d been under Malefor&#039;s shadow. <br /><br />&quot;I just-...&quot; Her blade-tipped tail flicked briefly as she jumped to look towards another sound in the distance; a pinecone, this time. &quot;...I feel like I&#039;ve seen this exact layout of trees before.&quot; Cynder finally spoke up again, picking out a particular copse of pine trees growing surprisingly close together. &quot;Twice, actually.&quot; She corrected, eyes briefly flicking over to Spyro.<br /><br />Spyro followed her gaze, then tilted his head. &quot;Hm&hellip; Weird.&quot; He straightened up again, snout pointing down in contemplation. &quot;We shouldn&#039;t be going in circles though; I&#039;ve been keeping the sun on my left as we walked, just like how it was when we first got in here.&quot; Not that they had any particular destination in mind to know where they were going - when they&#039;d stopped the world from ending, they ended up stranded somewhere neither of them had been before, and had mostly been wandering from landmark to landmark. <br /><br />&quot;Spyro-...&quot; Cynder dropped her nose a bit to match him, giving him that uneasy gaze she&rsquo;d do whenever he did something particularly dangerous or foolish. &quot;The sun&#039;s on our right.&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Huh- what?&quot; Spyro instantly looked under him to find his shadow, then up to the canopies to pick out the sun - sure enough, the sun was now on the opposite side. It was still too early to be afternoon though, and he&#039;d have remembered if it was noon before that - they typically tried to take a break from walking at noon. &quot;Oh. Huh.&quot; The purple dragon smiled sheepishly, unsure how he could&#039;ve made such a mistake, but owned up to it all the same. &quot;Sorry. Guess we got turned around.&quot;<br /><br />Cynder closed her eyes and took a deep breath before snorting. Curse that smile of his-... She couldn&#039;t be upset at all with his dorky grin. &quot;You&#039;re so-...&quot; She trailed off, unable to even find words. This hadn&#039;t been the first time they ended up lost, turned around, or otherwise just going the wrong direction. It was only the first time today at least, so they had that going for them.<br /><br />&quot;Guess that explains why things look so familiar, huh?&quot; Spyro chuckled, glancing around the forest once again as they turned around. His tail brushed hers, and she cracked a little smile as he passed - but she paused before following. <br /><br />&quot;...Know what though? New plan.&quot; The dark-scaled dragon sauntered right up to the same trees she&#039;d pointed out earlier, reared up on her hind legs, and then dug her claws into the trunk, leaving a trail of gashes tinged with poisonous green in the bark-... And a layer of sap on the paw responsible. &quot;This way-&quot; Cynder began as she shook her forepaw, trying to get the gunk off. &quot;If we see a tree with claw marks, we&#039;ll know that we&#039;d-...&quot; She paused again, diverting her attention to the sap on her digits and sighing irritably before licking it to try and clean it off, making a face as she did. Pine sap was the worst.<br /><br />&quot;This way we&#039;ll know we&#039;d been here.&quot; Spyro finished the thought for her as he approached, then smiled at her as she finally cleaned the gunk off with a look on her face that betrayed her regret for using her tongue. &quot;Good thinking Cynder.&quot; He beamed, which only served to make her blush and look away with a snort. &quot;But uh-... Next time let&#039;s not claw up a pine. They tend to kinda-...&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Bleed everywhere, yeah.&quot; Cynder managed a weak little laugh at herself, but Spyro nudged her cheek with his snout supportively, nuzzling up against her. &quot;Careful there, you&#039;re gonna get sap on your nose.&quot; She warned, almost managing to sound playful. He took that as a challenge.<br /><br />&quot;Oh yeah? What if I wanted to get all stuck to you though?&quot; Spyro teased, licking her cheek, but the sudden narrowing of her gaze told him to stop.<br /><br />&quot;Please don&#039;t joke about that.&quot; She spoke directly, and in an instant he cleared his throat and nodded, lifting himself back away from her.<br /><br />&quot;Oh, right, we did that before and-&quot;<br /><br />&quot;The snake collars, yeah.&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Yeah, no, let&#039;s not do that again.&quot; Spyro agreed as he nodded several times, looking downwards as he gave a pained smile. Cynder wondered how he could forget the week or so they&#039;d been magically tethered to each other by the neck. It had been so-... Formative? It felt weird thinking of it that way, but she was pretty sure she would&#039;ve kept running from her past without having been physically tied down to it. It was still a bad memory though, and felt bad too-... And Cynder knew he was multiplying it by ten as he realized it wasn&rsquo;t the first time she&rsquo;d been chained up. She could see it in his eyes as he opened his muzzle again. &quot;...Sorry, didn&#039;t mean to uh-...&quot;<br /><br />&quot;It&#039;s alright.&quot; Cynder said simply, taking a deep breath after as she stepped back up to him, and nudged him with a shoulder, giving him a partially forced smile to try and reassure him she was okay. &quot;Let&#039;s just get moving again.&quot; She suggested, and he nodded several times. A few steps later, his tail curled gently around hers as they walked together, this time keeping the sun on their left.<br /><br />&quot;...So what do you wanna do for dinner?&quot; Spyro broke the silence again after a minute, glancing Cynder&#039;s way as they walked. &quot;If we find that river we saw, I could probably jolt it with lightning and get us some salmon,&quot; he offered. She could tell he was trying to cheer her up as she kept her attention on the forest ahead of them.<br /><br />&quot;Hm? Oh, yeah, uh-...&quot; Cynder paused, blinking once as she processed the question. &quot;...What&#039;s a salmon? That some kind of bird, or-...?&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Oh, no, sorry.&quot; Spyro apologized out of habit, then explained: &quot;A salmon is a fish- it&#039;s a big silvery one with a red belly. Tastes really good charred.&quot; <br /><br />&quot;...I don&#039;t think I&#039;ve had fish in a while.&quot; Cynder hummed, thinking for a moment as she listened to the sound of oak leaves crunching underfoot while they walked. &quot;What if we don&#039;t find the river? Do we split another deer?&quot; She didn&#039;t like the idea of having to stalk another one of those giants with him. Their bright purple and magenta scales both kind of stuck out in this sea of orange and yellow fall forest, and there weren&#039;t enough crystals sprouting up here to use a ton of magic. Even if she used her shadows to dive and close the distance, she&#039;d be out of breath by the time she came back up, assuming she could even hold her breath in the shadows long enough to get under one. If Spyro was a bit better at sneaking, his icicles could probably take one out at a distance, but all said-<br /><br />&quot;Nah.&quot; Spyro had another idea though. &quot;If we can&#039;t get fish, I&#039;m thinking of going back for that boar we saw.&quot; He grinned. &quot;Those tusks looked tough; kinda wanna see if me and my earth shield can still hold up against &#039;em. Keep myself in shape!&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Spyro I-...&quot; Cynder wanted to interject, but she paused and thought it over instead. &quot;Well-... Boars tend to run away less than deer do, so we wouldn&#039;t waste as much time.&quot; She hummed briefly, eyes flicking from point to point on the path as her gaze lowered in thought, then jerked back up to look at him. &quot;But what if it gets through your shield? You could get hurt&hellip;&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Nothing some red gems wouldn&#039;t fix.&quot; Spyro shrugged, smiling confidently.<br /><br />&quot;There haven&#039;t been that many around this forest, though.&quot; Cynder warned, looking concerned. &quot;If you got seriously injured, we&#039;d-...&quot; She kept trailing off.<br /><br />&quot;Well, I can heal a little at the first one we find, then I&rsquo;ll walk the rest of the way to the next one.&quot; Spyro reasoned, then smiled. &quot;Plus, all that is assuming it even hurts me in the first place. It&#039;s just a boar, not a monster.&quot; The unspoken fact being that at this point, they&#039;d fought legions of monsters and still survived somehow.<br /><br />&quot;Spyro-...&quot; Cynder began, her pace slowing.<br /><br />&quot;I know, I know, It&#039;s still a boar.&quot; Spyro nodded, well expecting the counterpoint as they slowed to a stop. &quot;But it&#039;ll be two of us against one boar, how could we lose?&quot;<br /><br />&quot;No, Spyro-...&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Come on, Cynder! It&#039;s just a- ow!&quot; Spyro blinked as her wing slapped him. &quot;What was that for?&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Spyro, look.&quot; She directed his attention up to one of the pine trees. It was the one they marked earlier.<br /><br />&quot;What&hellip;?&quot; Spyro stared at it, blinking as the weight of it sank in. &quot;But that doesn&#039;t-&quot; He stumbled over his words as he stepped closer. &quot;We&#039;re still going the same way! How did-&quot; He looked from his shadow, then to the sky. The sun was still on their left, but now they were back at the trees again somehow. Plus, they&#039;d come from the same side they just left! Even weirder, the claw marks she left had been in the sun before, but now they were on the shady side. That entire copse of trees was backward! &quot;How the heck did it-...&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Spyro.&quot; But Cynder was still staring up at the tree, transfixed. &quot;How many claws do I have?&quot;<br /><br />&quot;What?&quot; The question caught him off guard. &quot;Uh, four. Same as me, same as every other dragon. Why do you-...?&quot; He asked, now pacing up to look at what she was looking at, and he blinked. &quot;Oh.&quot;<br /><br />On the tree was a series of gashes that cut deep into the bark, each in a parallel line as you&#039;d expect a claw swipe&hellip; but it took him a second to realize there were five of them. &quot;I thought you only clawed it once.&quot; He asked more than said, clearly confused.<br /><br />&quot;I did, yeah, but look-...&quot; Cynder reared up and placed her paw along the lines she&#039;d cut, then shifted them over to measure. The distance, shape, depth were all identical, as if part of her attack had been duplicated. &quot;These marks even have the same poison in them as my claws make&hellip;&quot; She stared at the gashes on the tree, watching the way the sap oozed and reacted with the faint marks of acid. It was uncanny&hellip;<br /><br />She turned back to Spyro, and as she did-<br /><br />---<br /><br />&quot;...Mnngh...&quot; <br /><br />Cynder felt dazed as her eyes groggily fluttered open again, finding herself laying on her side, sinking into a cool, soft surface. It took a minute to focus her eyes again, but once they had she saw a dark, unfamiliar room that was dimly lit in warm amber lighting. She tried to move, but even just lifting her head to look around felt like trying to lift a mountain. Everything had a dull ache to it, and every thought felt like it was being dragged through mud. She couldn&#039;t remember having fallen asleep, or even having gone anywhere. If she closed her eyes and really focused she could remember being in a forest, and a vague sense that something had been wrong... But the last things she remembered felt hazy and unsettling; a foggy vision of something trying to suffocate her in a bad dream - making the fact she was in an unfamiliar place feel all the more uncomfortable and frightening. <br /><br />And yet, nothing here looked dangerous. It looked strange and alien, sure, but remarkably similar to the interior of those few homes that the other races lived in. The room was in a rigid, blocky style with ashen white and black tones. There was a large cabinet, drawers below a mirror, shelves... Lighting came from small upside-down braziers or something similar - they were cone shaped things that lined the bottom of the wall, casting a steady, unnatural amber light on the floor. They didn&#039;t flicker, so the light was probably coming from crystals.<br /><br />She was laying on a bed with smooth sheets in a pale blue color, her head having rested on two pillows that had a straw mat over them, dented where her horns had been jabbing it. There was a dull, constant hissing noise coming from somewhere, and the earthy scent of rain permeated the room- probably because her scales were caked in mud for some reason. She could see a door somewhere off past the foot of the bed, and there might&#039;ve been a second up by the head, just past that end table, but-<br /><br />A sudden snort caused her aching head to jolt up and crane to look behind her, towards the side her body wasn&#039;t facing - there, she saw an armchair, and in it an individual who had fallen asleep in their seat. They were an anthropomorphic creature, like the cheetahs and fauns - Cynder counted two legs at rest, two arms spread out hanging limp over the arms of the chair, and one head laying uncomfortably slouched back on the cushions. It was hard to tell what species, since they wore thick, multi-layered tattered robes in a dark grape color, and had on a bone white mask with orange markings and a long snout, but after a moment staring she at least caught a faint twitch of dirty orange fur from behind their leg, and a fluffy tail tipped in white. Her best guess was that he was some kind of canine. In his lap was an open book with a detailed diagram of a dragon on one page, the diagram showing green scales and a large wingspan, and on the opposite page was a dense wall of words that made her head spin to even look at. <br /><br />Cynder at first thought to call out, but as she tried to, her voice croaked weakly. She sounded pitiful, and she still wasn&#039;t entirely convinced she was safe, so she instead turned to look elsewhere, finding that this room also had a sofa next to a sparsely populated bookshelf. In front of it was a stand with some kind of illuminated-... Standing painting-... Box thing with another two diagrams of a dragon, the one on the left having-... Six horns exactly like hers, and a tail scythe and wing tips just like hers. But while she was used to seeing artwork of herself in her darker form, this one was glowing, as though made from magic. Interestingly, and in fact frighteningly, it was of her as she had been ever since Malefor&rsquo;s control of her was first severed. Even stranger, it took her a minute to realize that the image was moving- lines and numbers were constantly adjusting in ways she couldn&rsquo;t understand. <br /><br />Cynder stared at this for far longer than maybe she should have trying to figure out what it could mean, but then after a brief moment, a realization hit her. <br /><br />She didn&#039;t see Spyro.<br /><br />She checked around one more time as the tension grew - she was alone in a strange place she didn&#039;t remember, clearly injured, and he wasn&#039;t anywhere to be seen. A million possibilities hit her like an avalanche, was he hurt? Did he know where she was? Had she been kidnapped? Had HE been kidnapped? <br /><br />Cynder craned her head back around to look at the masked person, wondering if he was responsible for her state. She strained to try and remember, but all she recalled was being in a forest with Spyro, getting lost, and then-... Nothing. Beyond that, it was just a mess of foggy mixed up sensations that didn&#039;t quite add up.<br /><br />She tried again to move, flexing her limbs, trying to lift her wings, anything, but everything felt limp and sluggish, like she was trying to move through quicksand, but-... She&#039;d been through worse, she could push through this. Claws dug into the sheets, pushing herself forward and-<br /><br />&quot;Wh- Oh no please don&#039;t-!&quot; The individual in the chair had woken up, and as she heard them move, her instincts surged to try and get away-... but, too slow. They were in front of her before she could make her escape. She recoiled and hissed, expecting them to try and grab her, expecting chains and collars and muzzles<br /><br />But the two-legged animal in the mask recoiled too, keeping their distance as they spoke. &quot;Please don&#039;t try to get up.&quot; Their voice was on the deep side, intent but not imposing, and fairly male. Now that he was standing, he also seemed physically masculine as well, at first blush - though she was never completely certain with the two-legged creatures. He kept his hands visible, lowering himself to her level as she stared at him with suspicion. &quot;Okay?&quot; <br /><br />&quot;Where&#039;s-...&quot; Words came slow and hard, creaking like a rope under tension, and she had to take a moment to just pant. <br /><br />&quot;Where&hellip; are you?&quot; The man finished for her, but she shook her head - or at least, she shook it as best as she could.<br /><br />&quot;Sph-... Spyro.&quot; Cynder had to focus even to get that word out.<br /><br />&quot;Spiral- uh-...&quot; the two-legged creature said, trying to copy her. Cynder was frustrated watching the man in the tattered robes try to understand her, infuriated even. Was he playing dumb or- &quot;Where&#039;s sp- oh! You mean your brother; the other dragon?&quot; The man snapped his fingers as he seemed to finally get it.<br /><br />Cynder snorted. &#039;Spiral.&#039; Didn&#039;t he recognize the hero who&#039;d saved them all? Whatever. She nodded slightly, her eyes remaining narrow, her balance still shaky<br /><br />&quot;He&#039;s okay, don&#039;t worry.&quot; The man reassured her, pointing with his fingers. &quot;Or he will be-&quot; He corrected as his hands pulled back to his chest, &quot;he was a bit more torn up than you, so they&#039;re having to heal him in the next room, where we have better equipment,&quot; he explained. He exhaled a sigh that made his mask hiss as Cynder felt her blood run cold. &quot;I can take you to see him if you&#039;d like, I just wasn&#039;t sure if-&quot; He stopped short, turning aside. &quot;Why am I still wearing my mask? It&#039;s too hot for this.&quot; <br /><br />The two-legged man grunted as his hands reached up behind and pulled his hood down, then as they rose back up to the straps of his mask to pull it off, shaking his head afterwards. Behind the mask was a canine of some kind - like a fox, though many Spyro and her had met all used different names for themselves when they stood vertically. She had no idea what this one would have been called.He had burnt-orange fur with white markings down his neck, that fur on his muzzle pressed flat by the lingering imprint of his mask. His pointed ears flicked as he combed a hand through his messy brown hair and pulled it from the collar of his robes, letting its length fall down his back, long like his tail. He exhaled again, then gave her a tired smile.<br /><br />&quot;Sorry about that, love - I&#039;m normally a little more together than this, but I literally finished carrying the two of you inside not twenty minutes ago.&quot; He explained as his tail gave a few gentle wags. &quot;Not used to saving two people at once, bit more of a workout than I&#039;m used to. Uh-...&quot; The man bounced a bit as Cynder snorted impatiently. &quot;Right, want me to carry you to your brother now, or did you-...?&quot; <br /><br />&hellip;Brother. He said that earlier, hadn&rsquo;t he? Whatever, yes, of course she wanted to go to Spyro - even if it took conscious effort to nod, she needed to see him. &quot;...Yes.&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Gotcha. Uh-...&quot; The man clapped his hands, then stood and walked closer. &quot;Lotus didn&#039;t see any physical injuries, but let me know if anything hurts.&quot; The man gently reached over and around her, tucking her wings in again and helping roll her over before lifting her up, putting her head over one shoulder as he lifted her up into his arms.<br /><br />Cynder had never been picked up by a two-legged creature before - at least, not in a friendly way - and it was weird to remember just how tall they were, compared to her. Even if her tail dragged on the floor, she was probably only half his size, and maybe two thirds his height if she&#039;d stood up on her hind legs. The softness of his fur under those thick robes felt weird, like being hugged by one of the nests they had back at the dragon temple. She felt small, and uncomfortable. It was humiliating and just-... Weird. No matter how gentle he was, he was still a stranger, carrying her while she was too weak to do much more than lift her head and keep her shaking legs under her.<br /><br />&quot;There you go, all good? You can growl at me or anything if you need like-... to tell me something&rsquo;s wrong.&quot; He spoke quickly and nervously, but different from how she was used to other races talking around her. It felt different, like he wasn&#039;t afraid of her at all, but more anxious for her. It was weird. He was weird.<br /><br />Either way, she wanted him to shut up and get moving, and thankfully he did after regarding her for a moment, hefting the dragon up and heading to the door, which opened when he approached. Outside this room the lights were a bit brighter, this time coming from glowing tiles in the ceiling, illuminating a carpeted hallway that was wider than she&#039;d have expected for two-legged creatures; it was almost as big as those at the dragon temple even, and the walls were made of some sort of smooth white stone. Along the wall hung boxes holding growing plants, and further back it seemed to open into a seating area with bookshelves and even more potted plants. The hall seemed to extend onward and around the bend, but their destination was only down the hallway a short distance, and the darker grey stone door slid open as they approached it.<br /><br />This next room resembled the previous in color scheme, but was lit more brightly, and featured far less furniture. And there in the center lit brighter than anywhere else was a table, or perhaps an altar with a slate grey color, and atop it-<br /><br />&quot;Spyro-...!&quot; Cynder immediately leaned forward as she saw him, squirming to get free.<br /><br />&quot;Hey- Woah! Calm down, you&#039;re gonna-&quot; The man holding her tried to calm her, but it was of little use. She needed to see him, he was hurt, and-<br /><br />&quot;Cease.&quot; Cynder jolted as another voice spoke - firm, but soft. It hadn&#039;t been that loud, but somehow it rattled her-... And the man carrying her, apparently.<br /><br />What was weird was she hadn&#039;t seen anyone else in the room when they entered, but pacing around the table was another two-legged creature, this one another kind she didn&#039;t recognize. They had scales and horns, but stood on two legs and also had hair. They weren&#039;t a snake - were they a lizard maybe? But the horns-...<br /><br />The tall, sleek green-scaled individual had smooth golden horns with sharp angles, and a wide snout. Their build was different from the one carrying her, in a way that Cynder remembered being considered more feminine for two-legged types. Was this one female? Lighter jade scales began down her neck, and she wore a smooth, silken dress robe with golden designs. She looked so outlandish, it was strange Cynder hadn&#039;t noticed her sooner.<br /><br />&quot;...You brought her in here. Are you stupid?&quot; The new person&#039;s dark green eyes examined Cynder and the one holding her. <br /><br />&quot;She was about to fall out of bed trying to find him.&quot; The man explained as Cynder slowly started to move again, this time much more cautiously. &quot;And she looked about ready to bite me when I tried stopping her.&quot;<br /><br />An irritable sigh, the woman pinched the bridge of her snout. &quot;...Luckily, I wasn&#039;t performing surgery or anything that required concentration.&quot; She spoke in the same tone of voice one of the other dragons would talk to Cynder in - that condescending tone that supposedly meant they cared. It failed to be convincing, in her opinion. &quot;I&#039;m nearly done. You may approach, but if you touch him - either of you - I will remove you from the room. He is in a delicate state right now, and if you disturb him, he may even die.&quot;<br /><br />Cynder felt a weight drop in her stomach at those words. Tension coiled in her muscles as she leaned around to try and view the purple dragon, but a moment later they&#039;d been beckoned forward.<br /><br />Spyro looked like he was asleep, but was laid out in an uncomfortable position, his wings spread behind him. Some of his scales also had dirt caked on them, but others had been wiped clean to reveal angry red marks with pale, chalky edges across his body - a few of which had been bandaged already, but several the woman was only now getting to. Cynder easily recognized the type of burns as having come from a powerful acid - acid like the kind in her poison breath and claw strikes.<br /><br />&quot;...What happened?&quot; she managed. The pit in her stomach only grew as she wondered this aloud - had she done this? <br /><br />&quot;Unsure.&quot; The woman replied simply as she continued to work. &quot;The wounds are consistent with chemical burns, if you want to speculate, but I&#039;m a bit busy making sure none of these get infected. They&#039;re pretty severe and we can&#039;t use magic.&quot;<br /><br />&quot;I found both of you alone in the middle of a field, unconscious and half-buried in mud. I have no idea what could&#039;ve happened.&quot; The fox answered too, adjusting his hold around Cynder. &quot;...Why do you say he might die though? I thought it was just burns and Wyld erosion-&quot; His eyes moved from point to point across Spyro&#039;s body, never seeming to sit still until he looked back up at the other person. &quot;Did you find something else?&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Well, like her, he seems to have been hypoxic at one point, but his lungs are damaged far worse than hers were, and still had liquid water in them.&quot; The reptile healer explained as she worked to wrap one of his forelimbs in gauze and a poultice of some kind. &quot;We prioritized those injuries first, and as such, clearing up all that fluid has left him too weak for more magic just yet.&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Will-...&quot; Cynder swallowed hard, her voice hoarse and uneven. &quot;Will he be okay?&quot; She almost didn&#039;t want to ask - she barely understood what had happened to him, or why they couldn&#039;t use magic or crystals like the apes&hellip; But she had to know.<br /><br />&quot;Yes.&quot; The confidence behind the healer woman&#039;s words was direct and simple.<br /><br />&quot;Yeah, it&#039;s okay.&quot; The fox also nodded in reply. &quot;I know it sounds serious, but trust me- your brother&#039;s okay. They know what they&#039;re doing.&quot;<br /><br />&quot;...Okay.&quot; Cynder swallowed, exhaling a little as she heard that, but still felt worried seeing Spyro this way. &quot;...But he&#039;s not my brother.&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Oh?&quot; The fox&#039;s ears perked a bit. &quot;You sure?&quot;<br /><br />Cynder snorted. &quot;We&#039;re not. He&#039;s-...&quot; She coughed, then had to take a breath before she could continue. &quot;Really important to me, but he&#039;s not-...&quot; She trailed off-... Why was talking so hard? She felt out of breath already. &quot;He&#039;s-...&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Well, Lotus said you were siblings, but-...&quot; The fox shrugged, the distinction not seeming to matter much to him with everything going on &quot;Anyway, he&#039;s going to be okay, he just needs time to rest. We can use magic to heal him after he&rsquo;s regained some of his strength, but he&#039;s a bit too weak for anything more for now.&quot;<br /><br />Cynder blinked, looking towards the man holding her with a confused expression. They couldn&#039;t heal him-... Because he was too hurt? That didn&#039;t make sense-... But she was feeling really weak too. More than she should have been. Just what exactly had happened to them?<br /><br />&quot;...You seem calmer now.&quot; The fox noted with a gentle smile as he looked down at her. &quot;Would it be okay if we sat down now? Perhaps get you some water? You sound absolutely parched&hellip;&quot; He offered, then corrected himself a beat later. &quot;In this room, I mean. I&#039;m not going to try to take you away from him, but-... Well, I can&#039;t carry you forever either, so-...&quot; <br /><br />After a moment, Cynder nodded, watching as they stepped away from Spyro&#039;s side and to a set of chairs she&#039;d not noticed when they came in. By now she was beginning to get control back in some of her limbs, so as he set her down in the cushioned throne, she helped prop herself up as he then reached to the table beside her and collected a glass jug of water, as well as a bowl from the set that had been conveniently left for such an occasion, and poured. <br /><br />&quot;You must have a lot of questions by now, I know.&quot; The fox said softly as he poured, and gently held the bowl for her to drink from, also supporting her head. &quot;I can feel the tension in your muscles&hellip; This must be terribly frightening. Like a bad dream&hellip;&quot;<br /><br />The dark dragoness huffed a bit at the way he was talking to her, so condescending and patronizing - but she drank eagerly anyway, if only so she could speak clearly again. He was so-... Oddly patient with her as he poured again and offered it to her. After a few swallows, she raised her head. &quot;...Why are you doing this for me?&quot; She finally managed a full sentence this time, gaze averted as she spoke. &quot;Just... who are you?&quot;<br /><br />The man chuckled a bit. &quot;Well, because it is my job, first off.&quot;<br /><br />&quot;It really isn&#039;t.&quot; The other woman interjected with a tearing of gauze, and a derisive look that made Cynder jump a little. &quot;Don&#039;t lie.&quot; The scaled woman was being so quiet as she worked that somehow Cynder had even forgotten she was there at all.<br /><br />&quot;Alright, alright. Well, it&#039;s more my self-appointed job, at least.&quot; The fox corrected with a huff, then smiled again at Cynder. &quot;I am Kaseiko Vinceri, Oracle of the Present. You may call me Kasi if you like though.&quot; He looked towards the woman attending the other dragon. &quot;And over there is my colleague, uh-... Well, actually, I should let her decide if she wants to share her name.&quot; <br /><br />There was a pause as she continued to work wordlessly, before Kasi let his head tilt awkwardly. &quot;...And I think that&#039;s a no. Don&#039;t take it personally. In her line of work, she has to be very picky about who she forms bonds with,&quot; he explained as he returned his gaze to Cynder.<br /><br />Cynder nodded slowly. She didn&#039;t blame the lizard lady; most people were hesitant to have a dark dragon around, so it was kind of expected that at least one person might distrust her. If anything, being distrusted was the most normal thing that had happened so far. &quot;My name is Cynder,&quot; she introduced herself, though she was fairly certain they knew it already.<br /><br />&quot;That&#039;s a beautiful name, Cynder. Reminds me of a campfire. It&rsquo;s a pleasure to meet you.&quot; Or, apparently not. Cynder stared at the fox with suspicion, but Kasi seemed to be genuinely smiling at her. None of the false smiles or veiled fear she had grown so accustomed to. He really did think it was a nice name. Somehow, he must have completely missed hearing about her. &quot;Would it be okay if I asked the name of your, um-...&quot; He lingered, making a motion towards Spyro.<br /><br />&quot;That&#039;s Spyro. He&#039;s-...&quot; Cynder looked towards the table with a forlorn gaze. &quot;My friend.&quot; She took a breath then added another question of her own. &quot;...Why&#039;d you think he was my brother? We don&#039;t look anything alike.&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Well, that&#039;s because Lotus is pretty sure you two are.&quot; Kaseiko explained as Cynder turned her gaze back to him. &quot;Lotus had a look at you both when you came in, and-...&quot; He raised a hand as he spoke, then bounced his finger as his gaze drifted before snapping back. &quot;Actually, lemme just show you what they said.&quot; The fox crossed his legs and sat down, turning so his back was against the base of her chair. Once his hands were free again, they met together in front of him, and he touched his thumbs and index fingers together to make a rectangle. As he spread them apart again, Cynder jumped as a sheet of yellow-white energy formed into a pane of glass that floated weightlessly in front of him.<br /><br />Cynder had, of course, seen magic before, but it was typically a lot more-... Obvious than this. If you weren&#039;t a dragon, magic required crystals and an implement like a staff, or at least some kind of wand, but he&#039;d just done this with his hands! What&#039;s more is that as she watched, images appeared on it and danced for him, runes darting around as he tapped and slid his finger on it. Not even Malefor or his ritualists used spells so complex as this.<br /><br />&quot;How did-...&quot; Cynder began to ask, enraptured, then shook her head as the question failed to form. &quot;What-...&quot; But that died in her throat too, the dark-scaled dragoness unable to do much more than stare as the fox soon made the spell produce two images of herself, as seen from two different angles. They matched up perfectly with the strange images she&#039;d seen of herself on that box in the other room, perfectly accurate versions of herself as viewed from above and below. She barely had words to describe it.<br /><br />&quot;So, here&#039;s the report Lotus gave me on you.&quot; Kaseiko began again, touching along the illuminated image as text appeared, though Cynder could only understand some of it - there were too many big words she&#039;d never learned floating in the magic pane. &quot;They start with the usual stuff - that you&#039;re a dragon, aged somewhere around ten to thirteen years old. They measured your height, weight, length, wingspan-...&quot; He ran his finger up the text&#039;s surface, moving more text onto the panel to read. &quot;But the important bit is here.&quot; He pointed at a blocky, uneven line with colors on it. &quot;This is your-...&quot; He trailed off for a second, his head leaning as he thought. &quot;Let&#039;s call them your unique identifying markers. It&#039;s a measurement of your blood that tells us about the rest of you. There&#039;s a lot of information we could get from this, like what color scales, eyes, and horns you have and how big you&#039;re probably gonna grow, but the important bit is that everyone has markers like this, and most of them come from your parents.&quot; <br /><br />Parents&hellip; Cynder never knew her parents. She&#039;d never even really thought about it, but it made sense that dragons would have parents too. Being under Malefor&#039;s regime, the only people with parents she&#039;d seen were-... <br /><br />She tried to put the thought aside but it came right back. Others had parents. If she had parents, they&#039;d have been dragons, and she and Gaul&#039;s army had killed almost all the dragons. She&#039;d have killed her parents. She&#039;d probably killed Spyro&#039;s real parents, too.<br /><br />&quot;...You alright?&quot; Cynder raised her head - Kaseiko had stopped to turn to her, giving her a concerned look. &quot;If you need me to stop for now, or explain more, we can-&quot;<br /><br />&quot;N-no, no. I&#039;m fine.&quot; She lied quickly, giving her attention back to the fox. &quot;I think I understand. Go on.&quot;<br /><br />Kaseiko lingered a moment more. That gaze made her uncomfortable - the way an adult looks before they ask if you&#039;re sure, then proceed to grill you about trust and- &quot;Well, alright.&quot; He smiled again instead. &quot;Don&#039;t be afraid to stop me if you need to though. I know this is a lot for you emotionally, and I&#039;m trying my best to keep this all understandable for the average person. But it&#039;s kinda complicated, and I know you&#039;re not having the best day.&quot; He explained as he turned his attention back to the image he made. &quot;...And I&#039;m trying to keep it brief. Gods know I could rattle on for hours about any one thing here.&quot;<br /><br />Kaseiko flicked his tail as he recollected himself. &quot;Anyway, these markers are all inherited from your parents. We can even subdivide them to show which came from your father, and what parts are from your mother.&quot; He stroked the lines briefly, and one set became painted in green, and the other in yellow. &quot;And if we look at your friend Spyro&rsquo;s markers...&quot; Kasi reached and pinched the edge of the light, pulling it and reshaping it to be wider, then touched a series of runes to bring up another series of blocky uneven lines. <br /><br />Cynder blinked. Her mouth went dry as she stared. &quot;They&#039;re the same...&quot; She mumbled, then took a breath. Her muscles tensed a bit. &quot;Does that mean that-... B-but I thought-...&quot; She shook her head. &quot;There&#039;s gotta be some kind of mistake, Spyro&#039;s not my...&quot; <br /><br />The fox leaned an arm on the chair she was sitting on, gazing up at her from below still. &quot;There&#039;s no mistaking it. Lotus always double checks their work before sending it. I could have them do it again, but it&#039;s probably just going to show the same things as right here.&quot; He offered with a sympathetic, if awkward smile. &quot;I&#039;m gonna guess you didn&#039;t come from the same egg together, but considering your ages, you probably shared a nest at least.&quot; <br /><br />&quot;But-...&quot; Cynder was struggling. She didn&#039;t know how to feel about this. She&#039;d never had parents, never had a family to speak of, barely could accept that she had a friend... And now she had a brother. A brother who she loved dearly. Too dearly. &quot;Spyro&#039;s my-...&quot; Her words choke in her mouth.<br /><br />Thinking back on it, it was possible. Frustratingly possible. She&#039;d never been told specifically how many eggs a dragon would lay at once, but the sheer fact they had the word &#039;clutch&#039; to describe multiple eggs was telling. She&#039;d learned from the occasional bird or snake nest they hunted that other creatures laid multiple too. <br /><br />When the guardians spoke of the way they had brought the eggs together in preparation for the birth of the purple dragon, she&#039;d assumed that this meant each egg was from a different set of parents but... Nobody had ever said anything about that. There was no limit mentioned, no sign anyone held any egg back from this event. <br /><br />Cynder could feel herself shiver as she tried desperately to find some reason this wasn&#039;t possible; she&#039;d assumed for so long that they weren&#039;t related at all - how could they be? Looking at herself, she was so much more... Different than every other dragon. Six horns, dark scales, a long tail with a sharpened tip - she wasn&#039;t like any of the others. She wasn&#039;t like him. She couldn&#039;t possibly be anything like him! Not when she&#039;d done so many-... He was so much better that-...<br /><br />&hellip;But if he really was her brother... What did that mean for her now? What did that mean for them both? What were-<br /><br />&quot;You don&#039;t look happy&hellip;&quot; Kaseiko brought her back to reality, adjusting how he sat. &quot;Is something wrong?&quot; Cynder snorted at the question, averting her gaze to the dark corner of the room. How could she even begin to explain this to him? <br /><br />Nevermind this fox guy, how was she going to tell Spyro? What would he say? <br /><br />&quot;Cynder-...&quot;<br /><br />Ugh. Why did she have to be so weak right now? She wanted nothing better than to get away from this and just be alone. But about all she could muster was to push herself a bit further back in the seat with a frustrated growl. <br /><br />&quot;I didn&#039;t mean to upset you. I&#039;m sorry.&quot; Kaseiko just... Kept talking. He just didn&#039;t quit. It was practically as bad as one of the guardian dragons. It made her muscles clench and her tail flick - she was trying to tune him out, but-<br /><br />&quot;...You obviously care a lot about him, I can feel it in your eyes... but I&#039;m not sure how that could be a bad thing just because he&#039;s your brother, unless like-&quot;<br /><br />A bolt of lightning shot up Cynder&#039;s spine as every muscle tensed. &quot;Stop.&quot; She snapped, shooting him a glare. &quot;Just stop talking...&quot; Her voice came out with more of a quiver than she expected as she again looked away. &quot;...Please.&quot; <br /><br />&quot;...Okay.&quot; Finally, Kaseiko listened, and was quiet for a moment. She heard him move to get up, but only just to sit in the chair opposite the small table from her. She heard another quiet buzz as he must&#039;ve brought up another of those squares of light, and settled back into the chair. Irritating he didn&#039;t just leave, too - he was honestly worse than...<br /><br />Cynder&#039;s gaze drifted to the table and the vibrant purple dragon that was laying so peacefully there. In some ways, he was just as infuriating. Persistent to a fault, and so... Very stupidly earnest. He&#039;d never shut up either when they first began together, always chasing after her, trying to talk... <br /><br />He was a ray of sunlight in a dark cave - bright and painful, annoying in every sense of the word, but... Warm, too. She&#039;d come to love that about him - envied him for it, really. That was why she thought it was so impossible that they were related. How could he even be remotely related to someone like her? She&#039;d done so many things that...<br /><br />Cynder blinked as that scaled woman drifted into view again, still hard at work. Somehow she&#039;d actually almost forgotten she was there at all. She&#039;d been so quiet that it&#039;d been like she&#039;d left the room entirely, and yet there she was lifting one of his paws and wrapping it gingerly. <br /><br />&quot;Is-... That Lotus over there?&quot; Cynder wondered aloud after a moment, and she heard Kaseiko perk up with a questioning hum. &quot;The-... One working on Spyro, I mean. Is she Lotus?&quot; She couldn&#039;t quite remember that conversation earlier, but if this person was Lotus, maybe she could ask where those unique markers even came from. Maybe there was something wrong with the way they&#039;d measured this... Blood marker thing.<br /><br />&quot;Oh, you mean her? No. No, she&#039;s not Lotus.&quot; Kaseiko answered, and she heard the woman herself give a brief chuckle. <br /><br />&quot;I&#039;m flattered you&#039;d think of me that way, but no.&quot; The woman accented her words with a tearing of gauze. &quot;I&#039;m not Lotus.&quot; There was a certain frustration in her tone, too.<br /><br />&quot;Oh.&quot; Cynder deflated a bit, glancing away again. &quot;...Then who is Lotus?&quot; She directed this question towards Kaseiko. <br /><br />&quot;Lotus is...&quot; Kaseiko sat back, giving a thoughtful hum for a moment as he stared ahead. &quot;Lotus is complicated to explain, but essentially, they&#039;re a group of elementals that helps us. The city we&#039;re in is named after them.&quot; The fox flicked his tail. &quot;I&#039;ll have to introduce you later, because it&#039;s kind of a lot to go over all at once.&quot;<br /><br />&quot;So Lotus is... More than one person?&quot; Cynder asked to be sure, and Kasi nodded. &quot;Okay.&quot; Cynder sighed. &quot;...But they&#039;re the ones that looked at me and Spyro? And-... They&#039;re sure we&#039;re-...&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Yes.&quot; Point-blank certainty from the fox.<br /><br />Cynder sank again, resting her head on the arm of the chair, closing her eyes. This was so-... Wrong. It felt like a bad dream she couldn&#039;t wake up from. It was just exhausting. Awful. And she was so weak right now, so tired... But she couldn&#039;t sleep like this. Her mind was still racing, and she couldn&#039;t help staring longingly towards Spyro, wishing he were awake to discuss this with. She needed him to be okay again.<br /><br />&quot;...How long until he wakes up?&quot; She finally asked, her voice meek, crushed under the weight of so many emotions she barely had words for.<br /><br />&quot;Well,&quot; Cynder had directed the question towards the scaled stranger, but Kaseiko answered again for her as she finished bandaging the last of Spyro&#039;s wounds. &quot;We&#039;re keeping him under a magical sleep so he&#039;s not in pain - otherwise, he&#039;d probably be awake right now, same as you.&quot; The fox explained. &quot;After he&#039;s had about a day of rest, we can use magical healing again without making things worse for him. Once we&#039;ve done that, we can probably wake him. He&#039;s going to be really tired from all this, and he&rsquo;ll probably want to sleep the entire day, but... Yeah. I&#039;d say by next morning he&#039;ll be awake again, and if not then, by sundown at the latest.&quot; <br /><br />A whole day&hellip; Healing without gems was such a terrible, slow process. At least she knew that he wasn&#039;t going to be gone for long. &quot;Okay.&quot; Cynder nodded weakly, still staring Spyro&rsquo;s way. <br /><br />For a time, they were both quiet. She could hear Kaseiko touching that floating pane of magic glass occasionally, but he was giving her space now. <br /><br />&quot;...You know,&quot; Or at least he was a minute ago. &quot;You&#039;re still covered in mud and I know your muscles ache. I bet a warm bath might help you feel better.&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp;Cynder didn&#039;t respond, so he continued. &quot;There&#039;s a room with a tub just over there.&quot; He motioned to a doorway just past the table. &quot;And I can leave the door open so you can keep watch over him. There&#039;s no point in us just sitting here feeling bad - wouldn&rsquo;t he want you to take care of yourself, too?&quot;<br /><br />Cynder felt indignant for a moment. She wanted to push back, but... He was right. And she was tired. So very, very tired. She could lift her head now, and stretch too, but... &quot;I don&#039;t think I can walk yet,&quot; she huffed.<br /><br />&quot;Then I can carry you again.&quot; Kaseiko offered with a gentle smile once more. &quot;Would that be okay with you?&quot;<br /><br />Cynder was quiet for a moment longer, then sighed and nodded before looking up towards Spyro one last time. &quot;Will he be okay in here on his own?&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Hm?&quot; The fox perked his ears as he stood up. &quot;On his-?&quot;<br /><br />&quot;I&#039;m still here.&quot; The other person - that green scaled woman - spoke up again as Kaseiko crossed in front of Cynder. &quot;Worry about yourself for now, little mortal. He will be okay.&quot; <br /><br />Little... What? Cynder was feeling pretty silly for having forgotten about that person again, but she wasn&#039;t quite sure she heard her right. It sounded like she called her &#039;mortal&#039;, but then that would imply-... Ah, but then Kaseiko was helping her up, again, which definitely made her feel small. Small, helpless, and pitiful. <br /><br />&quot;...Thanks,&quot; she mumbled weakly, as the two-legged stranger carefully lifted her up in his arms again. <br /><br />&quot;Of course.&quot; Kaseiko smiled. &quot;And thank you for trusting me, Cynder.&quot;<br /><br />Those words stung. She didn&rsquo;t know enough to trust him about anything. And if he was right&hellip; She could very well lose every good thing she thought she had. At least, she reminded herself, Spyro was safe. Everything else, she hoped, they could figure out later&hellip;<br /></span>",
  "pools_count": 1,
  "title": "Children of Lotus, Cynder: Ch.1 - Don't Panic",
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