Rebirth - Chapter 7

Chapter 7

While Twilight struggled with her tortuous emotions throughout the day that seemed to never end, Cynder was desperately attempting to see if she could end her friend's pain by seeking out the elusive midnight hunter that Twilight's heart longed for so much. The tall, thick canopy virtually engulfed the desperate young female in darkness, almost completely blocking out the sun in this dense part of the Forest. The trees around her appeared to stretch up for miles like towering temples and the ground they were rooted to still felt moist under her paws from the storm the night before. Cynder could still easily detect the strong, intoxicating scent of rain in the air. As Cynder walked through the seemingly lifeless and empty forest, the tempting sound of small mammals cowering in fear and then relaxing as the predator passed by, she could feel her hope for her friend slipping away – slowly deteriorating minute by minute, as every moment she did not find Raiko, was another closer to her never finding him at all. Whilst she was trying her best, harnessing all of her senses, and all of her hunting instincts, she just had a horrible, gut wrenching feeling deep inside of her that Twilight's love was gone for good and miles away, far beyond the realistic tracking skills of any single Dragon. She normally would have not paid too much attention to such a feeling, but her own intelligence was backing it up with disappointing logic. The fact was, she had been searching for several hours, checking every tree for marks, every rock for scent, analysing every foot of ground in front of her for any trace of recent movement, and she just hadn't found a thing! No clues, no hints of hope, not so much as a trace of anything larger than a rabbit with the in the area. Cynder stopped, lifted her head and took a deep breath in, analysing the air again for anything that might help her. She was just about to give up, resorting to her predator-like eyesight analysing the environment around her, when suddenly, at the last second she detected something in the air. She took a deep breath in again, trying to isolate the smell. It was faint. But, it smelt like… Blood. Dragon's blood. Dragon's blood! Sweet, hopeful, blood! She began frantically jumping around, pointing her nose in different directions around the area, trying to isolate its source, or even a direction! No good, the smell has been dissipated throughout the area by the wind. The smell was too old, not fresh enough. Just as the disappointment began to set in however, her sharp, predators vision detected something else. A tiny, almost insignificant dark speck on the face of a rock, a few meters in front of her. She dashed quickly to it; again, her hopes were raised and nurtured. It was exactly what she thought it was. A tiny, single drop of blood. It wasn't fresh, but the moist, morning air had prevented it from drying out completely. Trying to contain her excitement, the dark purple dragoness carefully wiped the evidence on to the tip of her paw. She brought it to her face, inhaling the scent to confirm her suspicions. Definitely the blood of a male Dragon. Cynder looked ahead again, and her sharp I picked up another clue some distance in front of her. She raced forward to insure the unusual shapes she had seen on the ground for what she thought they were. Indeed they were. Footprints.

Cynder knew what this meant. It meant that Raiko was more than likely nearby. It meant that the reason she felt unable to find any trace of his movements, with because he didn't want to be found. Up until now, he must been cleverly using the canopies of the trees, the occasional patch of moss, and the hard services of nearby rocks to leave minimal trace of his travels. Expertly jumping from one to the other, using only services that not leave a footprint. As for the scent, the moist air, and early-morning winds had made him very difficult to detect. There was something else however in the footprints. Something slightly worrying. The shape was slightly distorted and smudged, as if the creature making them had either been drunk, disorientated or in a great deal of pain. Either way, whatever had created them was not walking correctly. It must've meant that walking for such a long time the night before, in the cold, wet midnight air whilst in so much pain from his injuries, had eventually taken its toll on Raiko's body. By this point, he had been getting quite disorientated and was forgetting to mask his tracks.

Cynder followed the misshapen footprints in the drying earth for some time, noticing the odd scorch mark on nearby rocks, as well as a general scent of blood gradually getting stronger as she walked on. After a while, Cynder stopped as she had noticed something incredibly bizarre. The trunk of a large iron-wood tree nearby had been considerably damaged. Cynder approached the huge natural structure, analysing the damage. A series of deep long gashes had been engraved into the wood. The casual observer may have thought that the slashes may have been the resulting damage of a huge creature, possibly a bear, either marking its territory, or attacking the tree in hope that there would be food beneath its flesh. Cynder however, knew that this was not the case. The large gashes were not uniform enough. She suspected they were the result of a struggling creature with sharp claws attempting to climb the tree, but failing with multiple attempts and sliding down. She stared up at the thick web of branches above her. The smell of blood was so strong. She slowly rotated herself around the base of the tree, searching the canopy above to confirm her suspicions. The tree's canopy was thick, and resented to show anything that might be lurking within. As Cynder walked around the tree, searching the darkness, her sharp eyes picked out something wonderful. There, entangled in the branches, and looking completely miserable, was the heartbroken Raiko.

Cynder skillfully scaled the wooden structure, carefully jumped across from one branch to another and daintily made her way through the dark structure to Raiko. Cynder carefully positioned herself on a nearby branch and lay down, staring at the haunted being. Raiko was lying almost entangled on the branch, tail wrapped around the branch for security and staring off into the middle distance. Although Cynder still had no idea what Raiko had actually done, she still felt a slight sense of sympathy for him, despite the fact he was (essentially) the reason behind one of her closest friends being in so much pain. Cynder stared at the black dragon for a few seconds, pondering on what to do. "And now the really tricky bit Cynder" she thought to herself. She wrapped her own tail around her branch for safety, and carefully lent her head over towards him. Raiko however, still made no attempt to acknowledge her, and continued staring into the middle distance.

"Hi Raiko, how you doing?" Cynder started carefully, unsure how she was going to tackle this delicate problem.
"Hello Cynder" Raiko mumbles in response, his voice so low and heavy on to his depression.
"You know you can come back to you? The elders are sorry for chaining you up last night. You are more than welcome to stay and live among us if you want." Cynder said sympathetically and as softly as she could. Raiko however, still made no attempt to look at her, and simply nodded in response. Cynder repositioned herself on her own branch to make herself more comfortable, and in the hope that not leaning into him might provoke more of a response. "Why are you up here? It seems a pretty uncomfortable place to sleep. I am amazed you even got up here. If I hadn't seen those massive scratches on the tree, I wouldn't have believed you had climbed your way up with one front paw. Quite an impressive feat I must say." Cynder finished. Raiko finally looked up at her, but he still had the same heavy, haunted eyes he had before.
"It doesn't matter how hard it was. I got up didn't I? And I am up here, because it is where I belong, and all I deserve." Raiko said undramatically. Cynder felt the faint evidence of frustration stirring within her. This wasn't working. Being nice, sensitive and gentle wasn't yielding any results; she would have to turn up the heat.
"Raiko, you know why and here don't you? And you know what it means. Twilight really REALLY wants you back. You know that don't you? She really does care for you, and she doesn't care what you have done in the past." Cynder said, trying to keep her sympathetic tone. Raiko felt it pang of regret and betrayal within him at her words.
"So she told the then?" Raiko asked, not really feeling betrayal or anger towards Twilight, as more of a sense of surprise.
"She didn't really tell me much. She just said you had a past, and that if anyone could understand that it would be me." Cynder said simply. Raiko immediately hated himself for his previous thoughts. "You bloody idiot, as if Twilight would really betray you? She made a promise and she stuck to it." He thought to himself.
"How did you do it Cynder? How did you get Spyro to love you like he does? He could literally have his choice of any female on the planet, but he chose you, his former nemesis. Cynder, Terror of the Skies. In fact a better question, how did you forgive yourself for what you did to him? How can you live with yourself with the memory of everything you did to him and all the pain you caused him?" Raiko said harshly. The message he was trying to give Cynder was very clear and she certainly understood it. 'I know why you're here, and it's not going to work so go!' A sudden wave of sadness and regret suddenly consumed Cynder as she remembered her days before Spyro had saved her from the darkness. She suddenly looked back up from her moment of reminiscence and stared Raiko straight in the eye, a mixture of frustration and strength consuming her.
"I love Spyro with all my heart. Yes it was difficult to begin with, thinking I didn't deserve such a strong and kind soul. Especially considering what I had done to him. But the thing is, he loves me as well. After a while I began to realise that our relationship had nothing to do with how much I deserved it. It was how much I wanted Spyro to be happy. I realised that that was the only thing that really mattered any more. The only reason I get up in the mornings is to make my love happy. That is what a relationship is truly about Raiko. That's what makes the pain worthwhile." Cynder said forcefully. Raiko new display looking at her face, and more specifically her eyes, that what she was saying was coming from deep within her, and that she was so very very serious. "It was hard, but Spyro helped me. He helped me let go of the past, and helped me to understand that love is completely unconditional. If someone loves you, it doesn't matter who you were in the past, only who you are now. It took a long time for me to realise that Raiko. It's time for you to realise it too." Cynder said softly, desperately trying to help him for the sake of her friend. Raiko looked at her surprise for a few seconds, as is considering her words. But then, much to her disappointment, Raiko simply broke eye contact, and resumed resting his head on his paws and staring into the middle distance.
"Thanks for the pep talk Cynder. I appreciate what you're trying to do, but it's not going to work. I'm not going back. A girl as wonderful and kind as Twilight deserves someone who is equally so, and I can't offer her that. I'm evil. I ripped another Dragon to pieces without mercy. That's what I did Cynder. I killed someone because he made me angry. Twilight does not deserve someone like that. She deserves far better. Please go Cynder. I'm sorry, but I can't go back. Just go." Raiko replied, his voice beginning to swell up. Cynder hung her head in disappointment. She had failed. This was not something Cynder was used to, certainly not when it came to someone she cared about.
"Look Raiko. I'm going to tell you something that I probably shouldn't. Something that Twilight would love to tell you herself. Listen to me, she loves you. She really does. She doesn't just like you, or even a simple crush on you. She really REALLY loves you. Because she loves you, she really doesn't care at all about what you did. She doesn't just want you Raiko, she needs you. I don't think I've ever seen her so upset." Cynder said, trying to keep an undramatic and serious tone. Raiko however, simply buried his head into his arms further, and was quite obviously hiding evidence of some tears. "Twilight is a good person Raiko. Please don't disappointment her. She finished, before turning tail and beginning to daintily work her way back down the maze of branches to the ground.

Once her feet were back on solid ground, Cynder took a deep sigh of disappointment and sadness. She looked over her shoulder and back up at the dark canopy, one last time and her sharp hearing detected the faint, muffled sound of sobbing.

Cynder started her long journey home. It was now mid-afternoon, and she knew she would not get back before nightfall. This meant she would have to tell her friend the bad news in the morning. This was a slightly good thing for Cynder, because it meant extra time to think how on earth she was going to explain her failure to the heartbroken Twilight.