CHAPTER 24

And now, the thrilling conclusion of Endless Cycle! Will Spyro break the Cycle? Or will the universe ultimately achieve balance once again?

"Smarter than you look." Flame said, now completely out of the shadows, his orange scales shining with an unnatural glow, almost a purple tint.

Spyro and Cynder's jaws were still agape in shock. This had to be a trick, an illusion...it just couldn't be the truth.

"Ive had enough of this. Kill them!" Caesars voice echoed from behind them as he ordered his guards to fire.

They turned their heads just in time to see the arrowheads whistling toward their faces, only to stop in mid air. A purple light traced the projectiles as they hovered mere inches from each dragon. Spyro looked to Flame and saw his forepaw extended also glowing the same color.

"You arent in charge here. I am." The red dragon said flinging the arrows back toward their shooters, ripping through their armor with a sickening crack. With his bodyguards felled, Caesar drew his sword, ready for combat.

Spyro looked to his brother after that display of power with an expression of disbelief, knowing exactly what he did to gain such abilities.

"Flame...you absorbed the dark crystals...do you have any idea how dangerous that is?! You don't know the kind of power they-"

"Shut it Spyro! I know exactly what kind of powers they bestow. Your powers." He growled.

The purple drake merely stood there dumbstruck as Flame continued.

"I did the research Spyro, I know what they do. They make a normal dragon, into you. A dragon capable of controlling any element. And since you decided to steal my birthright out from under me, I'm going to steal yours!"

Cynder finally decided to join the conversation after snapping out of her daze.

"Flame listen to what you're saying! Dark energy does nothing but corrupt! Does everything I confided in you mean nothing?" She pleaded with him as his scales took on a tinge of purple.

"You were too young to realize what you had. I hadn't planned on having this conversation, I expected all of you to be dead at this point. Since you're here, I might as well clue you in on the events of the last week. I faked my attack and blamed the cheetahs, knowing you would attack them without asking questions. Sure it was painful jamming each arrow into a strategically placed spot, but it was a small price to pay for this!" He said opening his maw and releasing the same kind of purple energy Spyro had used to beat Cynder in her adult form. The beam zipped between the two dragons and crashed into the vehicle Caesar had ridden here, making it fly apart in a large fireball.

Caesar looked back at the dragon in awe at the power of the dark crystals, then had a thought, vocalizing it to Spyro.

"The war...it was all because of him?"

Flame rolled his eyes. He was pretty sure that's what he just said.

"Yes dammit." The fire dragon answered.

"Spyro, I need to contact my artillery commander! Their about to poison the city!" He said urgently.

"Cynder, take Caesar to the battlefield to find one of his men."

"But what about you?! I'm not just leaving you here! I told you we fight together this time!"

"Cynder please! Don't make this any harder!" He snapped at her.

He looked at her pleadingly. She couldn't say no to those eyes, so she grudgingly accepted her mission.

"I don't think so!" Flame said firing another blast right at Caesars chest, but was deflected by an identical blast from Spyro.

"I do. Flame this isn't you! This isn't my brother! This is the darkness talking! Its making you think this way, I can get it out of you, you just have to tru-"

"Trust you? I did. I loved you. But you betrayed me. This is all I have left, and I wont let you take it from me!" He said firing and enormous blast at his brother, drilling him square in the heart. He was thrown back against the cave wall and slumped over, blood dripping from his mouth and nose.

"Spyro!" Cynder screamed in terror. She had never seen anyone survive such a punishing blast as smoke rose from her purple loves chest. To her relief he began to cough and stir before looking to her.

"Just take Caesar and go now!" He barked through the pain as she nodded and grabbed Caesar by the arms and flew as fast as possible up the volcano. Flame launched himself in hot pursuit as did Spyro, timing his flight path to intersect Flames, spearing him in the ribs and sending both to the dirt. Flame got to his feet first and rammed Spyro in the ribs with his horns, flipping him across the stone floor and Flame caught his breath.

"You drove me to this...First you take my birthright...then you steal Cynder away even though you treated her like shit. You dont deserve her. You dont deserve to be the Fire guardian."

"Its...what dad...wanted..."

"Liar! I'm the oldest, I'm the fire dragon and I'm the legitimate son! I should be the fire guardian!" He said, allowing his anger to blind himself to the pain he had and was about to inflict on his own flesh and blood. He launched another beam at Spyro who took it in the ribs again and tumbled to the very edge of a cliff, a river of lava flowing a few hundred feet below him.

Spyro coughed up blood and spit it onto the rocks as he slowly rose to his weary feet and looked at his brother.

Flame growled as his scales became even darker and he seemed to swell up in size.

"Fight back!" He demanded as his voice changed, having been infused with the evil of the universe that had stalked Spyro.

The purple dragon sat on his haunches as he bled from his wounds and gasped for air.

"I...should've known...the darkness...would try for you..." He said between breaths.

"Its controlling you...It owns you..." He said, only provoking his half brother further.

"No! I'm in control! I will use it to take back whats mine! Once I'm done with you, I'll be the fire guardian!" He said walking toward Spyro as he still sat on the edge of the cliff.

Flame grabbed Spyro by the neck and lifted him up off the ground.

"You killed my father. I never even got the chance to see his face!" He said slinging his brother across the stone floor as Spyro merely rolled across it.

"Flame...I wont fight you..." He said still getting to his feet, even though his blood loss and bruises demanded he give up.

"Then you will die." He answered, the old Flame now completely gone as his voice now indicated.

xXx

"Where do you need to go?" Cynder shouted as they were finally over the battlefield, where the stalemate was still holding.

"Just drop me over there! My men will try and kill you if they see you." He said as Cynder complied and dropped him a few hundred yards outside a group of his men.

xXx

The Artillery is loaded with the poison shells and the field commander looked toward the city as it was now a shadow of its former self, the fires from the previous barrage still burning brightly as the sun began to rise.

He raised his arm to signal the artillery to fire as soon as the order came down from above.

He waited, for what seemed like hours as his men kept their eyes on him.

Finally, a transmission came over his crystal.

"This is a direct order from Caesar! All troops withdraw immediately! Cease all hostilities and retreat to the Cheetah village or face court marshall!"

He slowly dropped his arm as he heard the radio. Unfortunately one of the artillery gunners on the far side only saw the commander drop his hand, so he fired his shell, a lethal dose of toxin headed straight for Warfang.

Cynder looked to a distant rumble and saw in horror a single shell arcing over the treetops.

"Oh no!" She said unsure if there was any way to keep the shell from poisoning the entire city.

Then Nightwind zipped past her on his way to intercept the shell.

"Are you insane?! That thing is filled with poison!" She called after him.

"After all the guardians and you all have done for me, saving this city is the least I can do!" He said as he was now out of earshot.

She only watched as his figure got smaller and closer to the shell as it grew closer to its predetermined detonation point.

It exploded halfway between Warfang and the wilderness from which it came. From her hover over the city, she could see the body of a dragon freefall toward the earth as the cloud of blue enveloped it and slowly sank to the ground, poisoning the plants and animals unfortunate enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Cynder shed a silent tear for Nightwinds sacrifice. Something else caught her attention however, as she noticed the mass of Cheetah forces began retreating from whence they came. She looked down and saw Caesar smiling up at her saluting. She shot one back as she remembered something she had forgotten to tell Spyro.

"Oh no, the Epsilon chant! I forgot to tell Spyro!" She said realizing her mistake, flying as fast as she could toward the still glowing Mount Malefor even as the dragons cheered for their victory.

'Please hang on Spyro!' She thought as she had hoped he hadn't killed Flame yet. Little did she know, the opposite was almost true.

Spyro had taken quite a beating. A few of his ribs were broken and his scratch marks ravaged his body as Flame didn't have a scratch on him, as Spyro made good on his promise not to fight his own brother, even though the case could be made that he was no longer fighting his brother, but the evil that had once possessed Malefor.

"We told you we would kill you Spyro." Flame said, though it was only Flame on the outside.

He looked to the creature that his half brother had now become and growled, finally he felt that any damage to this atrocity would not be against Flame.

"No. You wont." He said getting to his feet miraculously.

He fired a mass of purple energy at him, something he didn't expect at all from Spyro in his weakened state. It knocked him to the ground and burned his chest. The evil was infuriated.

"You aren't my brother...you're a monster!" He growled as Flame sprang back to his feet, firing electricity at Spyro, wrapping him in lightning bolts as he screamed in agony, falling to his knees and clawing at the ground in an effort to assuage the immense pain.

He slowly raised his head and locked eyes with Flame, and asked with his expression 'how could you hurt me like this?'

Flame only intensified the power as his brothers cries grew louder. The darkness owned him, just as it had Malefor.

Spyro knew there was only one way out now. He would miss Cynder most of all, but hoped she would understand. All he could do was close his eyes and accept his own demise.

Then the electricity stopped, releasing him from its grip as he collapsed in a smoking heap onto the floor.

What made him stop? Had his suffering finally brought his brother back to the surface? He looked up. No, it was Cynder. She had hit him with a 'shatter blast' sound attack, stunning him momentarily.

When she looked to Spyro she was at a loss for words. He looked dead, but his motion and coughing alleviated her worst fear.

"Spyro! By...the ancestors..." She said flying next to him and cradling his head in her arms as her tears fell onto his charred scales.

"What has he done to you?" She whispered.

"I'm ok...You need to go...hide...I'm not strong enough to beat him..." He coughed.

"You arent supposed to. You have to use the Epsilon chant to seal him behind an eternity seal." She said as she helped him to his feet.

He looked to Flame who was just now recovering from Cynder's surprise attack.

"I'll distract him, you hit him with the seal ok?"

"Ok...you better know what you're doing." He said softly.

She darted toward Flame and gored him with her horns, throwing him into the wall just as Spyro had been so many times before.

"You arent my brother, I have no problem kicking your ass." She hissed as he got up.

"You know I was going to spare you, but killing you would be a lot more ironic, especially if I use dark energy!" He said firing another purple beam at her, though she easily dodged it.

"You'll have to do better than that!" She snapped hitting him with another powerful shatter blast.

Spyro concentrated as he said the ancient chant to himself as he began to glow a light blue. He only needed a few more seconds to prepare the seal...

Cynder glanced in her purple companions direction and saw his blue aura as he opened his eyes, ready to do what needed to be done.

Spyro charged one last fireball, and launched it a Flames back. Since he had completely forgot about him, it hit its mark, sending him into the wall once more. With this, he fired a blue swirling beam of energy which surrounded his limbs, pinning him to the wall.

Spyro began limping toward his brother as Cynder grabbed him and aids him in walking. Flame was hopping mad at this point, biting and snapping toward them as they approached him, though he was no threat to them now.

Spyro looked at her, and she returned his gaze. His face was dirty, cut and covered in his own blood, but he was somehow still breathing, let alone standing.

"Cynder...I have to do this alone." He said wearily as she nodded understandingly, letting him go and taking a few steps back. Spyro knew what the seal he held meant, and what it did. He looked at Flame, and tears filled his eyes. For one final time, he looked his last living relative in the eye, taking a step towards him as he is now only a foot away.

"Flame...you broke my heart..." He said as he released the seal allowing it to begin freezing his body in place. The final step of the seal was to bind it in blood, so that only those of that same bloodline may reawaken those trapped within. Spyro took his tail and drug it across his forepaw, allowing a fresh line of crimson blood to flow from his already battle weary body. He looked at the cut and then back at the monster the darkness had made his brother become. It had corrupted him since he lost the fire guardianship. It tempted him with unlimited power, but unlike Spyro, Flame did not resist. Spyro smeared his blood against the blue crystal now slowly working its way up Flames body. In a flash, his brother was sealed for eternity behind the blue crystal, deep in the heart of the evil mountain. After it was all over, he dropped to his knees and cried like he never had before. He had locked his brother for eternity in a crystalline prison. He had let him become corrupted by the evil he knew was out there trying to find a host body, which he didn't even warn him about. The guilt consumed him as Cynder came by his side.

"I...I let him become this...I shouldnt have taken the fire guardianship...I didnt even warn him about the darkness...I knew it was hunting and I said nothing!" He said slamming his fist into the stone floor as he looked at his brother, now frozen with a growl on his face. This only brought him more pain.

"Spyro, there was no way you could have known. He didn't show any signs of-"

"Damnit he was my brother! I should have known something was wrong!" He snapped his sadness now turning to anger at himself.

"Spyro listen to me! He chose to accept the darkness! There was nothing you could have done! You cant blame yourself for what Flame did! As much as this will hurt to hear, it was Flames fault what happened to him!" She said forcing him to look her in the eye.

He just stared, out of things to say, but still very upset. He dropped his head into her chest as she cradled him in her arms at the bottom of a volcano. Being alone was nothing new to her, she had never known her family, but for someone who had family, she couldn't imagine the loss. After a while, Spyro passed out, and Cynder picked up her lover and gently flew out of the volcano, an eerie silence dominating everywhere. The war was over, the dragon race saved, and the Cheetahs at peace.

"I've dealt with what Flame chose to do, though I still cant believe it. I still lay awake at night thinking about how someone I thought I knew, someone who shared my blood, could accept the darkness like he did. Maybe if he had seen what I had, he would have never even thought about absorbing those dark crystals. But Cyril said he had problems controlling his emotions. My wounds healed up for the most part, though I have a lot of scars now, and only half of my right horn, but I don't care. Appearance has never been a concern for me. I never knew how much being Fire Guardian meant to him. If I had, I would have never taken it. But that's in the past. I miss him every day, but Cynder and the other guardians help with those feelings. I try to remember the Flame I met after I woke up in Warfang, not the evil beast the darkness made him into. Cynder and I had a son soon after we were bound. We named him Flame. I'll never forget him as long as I live, I don't think anyone will. The Cheetahs are now our allies, after explaining everything was just a trick by Flame and the evil that corrupted him. Though Caesar is still in power, he has restored many freedoms to his people, and eliminated the dreaded thought police that terrorized his people. Things are much better now, and I hope Flames spirit isn't trapped in that evil body I sealed in the mountain. I don't know when the next evil heart will arise...but when it does, I'll be ready to destroy it. That much I promise to every peace loving soul in Warfang."

Ignitus shed a tear as he watched Spyro's newly hatched son play with Cynder and Spyro. The pride only a grandfather could feel swelling up inside his chest. He opened the book of the dead and wrote a single name in the book.

Flame, Son of Ignitus.

A few tears fell onto the page as he closed the book. A small red dragon walked next to him, looking up at him with eyes filled with remorse.

"I'm...I'm sorry I was weak dad..." He said softly.

"I know Flame...you didn't know what the darkness could do...it wasn't entirely your fault."

"But I tried to kill thousands of people! I don't deserve any kind of sympathy..." He said breaking down in tears.

"No my son. No matter what you do, you will always be my first born little boy, and I'll never stop caring about you." Ignitus reassured the spirit of his fallen son.

"Now you must travel to the spirit realm. One day Spyro and I will join you. Goodbye Flame, I love you." He said smiling at him.

"I love you too dad..."He said and slowly faded away.

Ignitus let out a heavy sigh and turned back to the vision pool, seeing Spyro laying awake in bed beside Cynder. He knew what he was thinking about. The same thing that always kept him up.

He grabbed a blue powder from off of a shelf and poured it into the pool.

"Goodnight my son...sleep well." He said as Spyro drifted off, finally sleeping now that a time of true peace had been achieved.

THE END.

Thanks for everyone who stuck with me through the unpredictable update times! everyone who reviewed, you have my eternal gratitude! also I was asked to give a shout to Cornys story Divinity. a good fic, check it out if u get a chance. anyway, thanks a billion to everyone who even viewed my fics! I have no more lined up, so for now, I'm just going to be reading and helping others on the site where I can. Its been fun, I hope u guys enjoyed it, now tell me what you thought!