The Legend of Spyro: A Duel with Destiny

The Legendary Hero

Cynder and Imperia had arrived at Warfang not long after the sun had set. Cynder had received a practical lesson in wind control as the rain began to fall and the storm to roll in; the wind ability to create a bubble of air free of rain, hail and other obstructions had certainly made the flight easier. Warfang looked more foreboding than Cynder remembered from her last visit. A larger number of guard dragons watched the land entrances to the city then Cynder remembered and Imperia had needed to identify herself to another guard before the two dragons had been allowed inside Warfang proper. Aside from this additional security Cynder had seen no particular disasters. Cynder slept in Imperia's chambers, but with the storm neither dragon slept very well.

"There's a disaster in Warfang? Is it the breakfast?" Cynder teased. The breakfast wasn't really all that bad, but there wasn't enough for two dragons, and Cynder had a surprisingly big appetite for her slender figure.

"Surely you're used to going hungry? Food is scarce on the borders of civilization" Imperia said.

"City dragons like to say that." Cynder mused "The truth is that there's lots of food in the wilderness... For any dragon who's good enough to find it." Cynder smiled.

"Wild food certainly agrees with you. And you've done well to stay presentable."

"What do you mean?"

"Cynder, you look very fetching."

"Oh, um, thankyou... You know it's not that hard to get by in the wild, I mean, a dragon can fly faster and hit harder than most of the creatures out there, also magic really helps in hunting. There are plenty of waterfalls to bathe under, so keeping clean is no problem."

"I think I prefer the city: conversation, heated baths, the library, students to teach. I'm not an outdoors dragon."

"Spyro..." Cynder quietly added the name to Imperia's list.

"Sorry? I missed that." Cynder thought for a moment before deciding to hurry the conversation along, this chatting stuff could take all day.

"Where's Spyro? Does he know I'm here?"

"No, but he-"

"But he wanted me to come?" Cynder pressed, Imperia hesitated.

"I know he'll be-"

Cynder's voice took on a steely tone. "Imperia please, don't evade my questions. Explain why you dragged me back here, quickly."

"Quickly? Fine then. In the Colosseum today, Spyro will fight to the death."

Spyro the purple dragon, hero of dragonkind, the savior of the entire world, stood at the center of the Colosseum, less than a hundred meters from where Cynder sat in the stands. He had grown like she had, Spyro was tall, lean and strong, and he looked proud and quietly confident. He had grown more handsome too, Cynder couldn't help thinking.

Even from her seat in the vast stands and surrounded by dragons, Cynder could practically sense the power within Spyro. He faced the huge Iron Gate patiently, waiting for it to open. A sound from behind that gate made him tilt his head, Cynder's heart skipped a beat, just for a moment Spyro looked shockingly like Malefor, the Dark Master, the long dead evil purple dragon. Nobody else seemed to see it, few people had ever seen Malefor and lived after all. The moment passed and Cynder looked around the Colosseum.

The crowd was mostly moles; Half of Warfang had turned out to watch the dragonfight, perhaps the only dragonfight some of them would ever see. They were packed tight and filled nearly three quarters the stands. The dragons, being much larger than the moles, took more space, and were fewer, but dragons had never been hugely numerous. Cynder noted that the moles had pressed away from a small contingent of dragons, who in turn were on the opposite side of the arena to the main group of dragons, they looked unfriendly. Cynder turned to Imperia, who was seated next to her.