It hurts every time.

The changes, I mean. It changes every time something happens that really isn't real. Whenever it happens it's like I'm being picked up by a mechanical claw and dropped in a completely different place, except the claw leaves me dangling in the air for days. That's where I am now, trapped in the middle of reality, not alive and not dead.

I get all my memories back while I'm waiting. Everything I've done, whether or not it actually occurred in the main world. Like the time all of the fairies were stolen and I had to save them; it never actually happened, but it still existed.

Here, in this endless void that is something colourless, something more than black, I can close my eyes and remember the first time life was breathed into me.

The dragons were trapped in statues. Gnasty Gnorc did it, because he was angry. In this place, I can look into the past of everything, analyzing their memories and experiences. They had exiled him, ridiculed him, and only realized when it was too late that he had the ability to destroy everything. Now, recalling his squinty green eyes that glared at me with so much venom, I can't see anything but Malefor in them.

Then there was Ripto, who wasn't really like anybody I knew in my most recent life. His heart was black and he tainted others so easily, ripped their lives to shreds with little remorse. But I stopped him, because I always did that. That adventure really wasn't like the one I had just taken; there had been no danger in the first place. Once I was there, everything just resolved itself with practically no effort on my part.

I wasn't so important then, I pondered. Purple dragons were rare, sure, and were certainly more powerful, but it was nothing like it was recently. I was a legend.

I remember my trek through the Forgotten Worlds most clearly. That was my favourite adventure in the first life; I can still always laugh a little (though the noise is quickly absorbed by the darkness) when I recall how silly Hunter used to be. The Hunter I knew was serious, intelligent, and if we had skate parks he probably wouldn't be caught dead near one. But the old Hunter was never serious, honestly a little bit thick, and was often a goofball.

And he was my best friend.

I thought of Sparx next. Even in my first life, when we weren't brothers, he was like one. I could understand him perfectly though he couldn't really talk, and in every life I'd had so far he never left my side, faithfully flying beside me the whole way. They were like two—or three, soon—different people, but something about them all was connected.

I gazed at the Sparx I would soon meet and saw with sadness that we wouldn't have much connections at all anymore, and that I didn't even care about him. He wouldn't be my friend, my brother, or anything to me.

The Guardians were my next thought. They would not be in my new world, which made me sad. I felt as if I were betraying them somehow. Though I knew a fragment of my soul would still exist in the second world and I would still be living my life there as I was in the oldest world even then, I still couldn't shake the guilt.

I peered down at the glimpses of my new life. Cynder was there, which cheered me up a little, but she was different in every way; she was a dragon named Cynder who really wasn't her at all.

Same with me, I thought, gazing at my paw which was already beginning to transform, the colour dulling to the bluer side of the spectrum. But I thought perhaps I might be happy there too. After all, I wasn't happy when I was thrown into this endless void and gazed down at what I was now.

I'm not like that, I had thought. I don't want to be like that. All my friends have changed (not to mention some are gone, though I won't miss Ember), and I'm a completely different dragon. I wish this wouldn't happen.

But I ended up liking it. And it wasn't just because whenever I descended into my new home my memories were wiped and weren't restored until I was teleported back up here again, no. I liked it because once I was really down there, I could appreciate the similarities and differences, however drastic they may be. So, even though everything in this new world was so unknown to me, perhaps I would grow to like it.

But I was becoming like the old me, which was now my least favourite part about my old personality. Sometimes I could be so mean and uncaring, acting cocky and aloof all the time, sometimes not even caring about what happened to my friends... and I hated it. Would my current self just melt away? Would I ever get it back? Next time I came here, would I look upon what used to be my life with hatred, regarding my current self with scorn?
I could not answer these questions.

So I only waited as patiently as I could, though it felt like years were passing. I spent my time pondering on all of my memories, until I knew it was then I had to leave. My appearance had fully changed into what I was going to be, and I knew I could not linger any longer. Reassuring myself, I stood to my feet. I did not look back as I began to run, but I did allow myself to close my eyes for just a moment and whisper a goodbye.

My eyes snapped open. The void had faded to a familiar black, but other colours swirled in there, but they were so faint that sometimes they popped out at me before fading back again. Not that I was looking. I only concentrated on the road before me. Memories began to drain out of me like sand sifting through an hourglass, one grain at a time.

Sparx was the first to leave, and I would have been sad had I remembered him. His glow faded into the walls, joining the colours. I had the feeling, as I resisted thinking back on the memories, that there was a gaping hole in them. Then came the various people who had played more minor roles in my adventures, like Elora and Mole-Yair, Hunter and the Professor, and even Ripto, and one moment later my early adventures were gone.

The Guardians came next, leaving me with a sense of misdirection and most of all, confusion. They were like clear pools of water, offering so much clarity. Malefor was next, and I did not lament his memory at all, though I felt that I had suddenly lost the cause that had driven me forward and even made me continue on now. I kept running anyway.

One by one, the memories dropped away until the void was almost completely filled up. It was a light grey now, and only a few colours were missing before it would be completely white. Many fell, but one remained. Everything else was gone, so I clung to what was left even as something tried to tug it away from me.

All I knew now was that I felt intense love for the one in this memory, and I didn't want her to be taken away. It was clear to me that I would have to let go sometime, but I held on despite this. A tear dripped from my eye and I whispered its name.

"Cynder..."

And I could hold on no longer. I allowed her to drop, a single tear escaping my eyes as I watched her fall. Like a flower petal she drifted slowly down until she was gone. Forgotten.

The void began to glow, bleeding out everything that had been dropped into it, and my blank mind only told me that I was almost there. Bracing myself, I charged faster and faster and until I was quicker than anything that could ever exist and the light was blinding me and I didn't know why I felt like I had lost everything but I had gone too far and I could not stop I could not stop I could not IwillnotstopIwillnotstopnow.

I'm not sure what help I can be, Ignitus, but I'll try. I'll try.

Time you learn how complicated life can be.

Ride out this storm... and live to fight another day...

I failed... They were all counting on me and I failed...

Be careful, Sparx.

Hey, it's me. Being careful is all I know.

My path ends here. But yours lies beyond this. Draw strength from each other, and follow your heart. It will never fail you.

You cannot defeat me! I am eternal!

I know what I need to do. Just get out of here, Cynder.

Spyro, no. You don't have to do anything. Let's just go.

Where, Cynder? There'll be nothing left! The world is breaking apart... but I think I can stop it. I think I'm meant to.

Then I'm with you...

I love you.

"Whoa, Spyro! You've returned..."

A/N:

Just a little thing I did for Spyro's birthday. That's right, fourteen years ago today the first game was published. I hope you enjoyed this, though it wasn't that great. xD Happy birthday, Spyro.

Also, the cover was made by me. Please do not use it without my consent or knowledge.