Video games, stories, movies, and art have all used characters based on a mythical dragoness named Cynder. But mythical doesn't always mean fictional.

Contrary to stories handed down through the ages, Cynder was not always a dragon. At first, she was a proud young sorceress named Cynthia. The brash and inexperienced girl decided to take on the evil wizard Malefor, who controlled the land. The only way to defeat him would be to use a magic more powerful than his, which would be dragon magic. This, of course, could only be done if one was a dragon.

Malefor's oppression had been increasing daily as of late, and the few people who dared to oppose him were never seen again. Something needed to be done.

So, against the warnings of family and friends alike, the sorceress, who only rarely dabbled in transformational magic, concocted the necessary potion. She walked into the town square, and, under the fearful eyes of many, began to transform herself.

As she focused her powers on her body, which was primed by the potion, she could feel her every molecule shuddering and shifting. She was expanding and enlarging, and a smile of enjoyment broke out on her face. Several people cried out in concern as a tail began to grow from the small of her back, and as it lengthened, she began to flick it back and forth theatrically.

The magic poured through her, and she cried out in delight. She could actually feel her body becoming strong and powerful, a far cry from her previous weak female form. The changes wracked through her, sprouting leathery wings and throwing her onto all fours. “I am...becoming...invincible!” she gasped proudly, her eyes growing green and large.

Like a monstrous butterfly, she began to pump her wings, pushing the blood through them and making them expand. Reveling in the feeling, she laughed, “I'll truly be unstoppable! Look how huge I'm becoming!”

“My Gods, please help us!” This particular cry of a woman shopkeeper angered Cynthia. She was altering her form and taking on the most dangerous man in the land, and the townspeople were afraid of her? No one else was brave enough to attempt this! Not a single one of the strong warriors the town was famous for had come forward to defend them. She, a woman, had!

Her face was becoming immense, growing into a snout filled with sharp teeth. The sprouting of blackish scales from her skin tickled, and she emitted a giggle which resulted in a puff of flame.

A scream went up from the crowd, and several people ran off. “Oh, please don't hurt us!” the baker's wife cried, backing up with the rest of the fearful onlookers.

“Hurt you?” Cynthia boomed in rage. “Look at me! Look at me! I'm turning myself into a dragon, a monster, to help you, and you're scared?! I'm going to battle the most powerful, evil wizard that may have ever lived, and you're afraid of me?” Menacingly, she blew flames towards the crowd, which only served to frighten them more.

By now her hands and feet sported thick claws, and her tail could fell trees. As the last bits of magic rushed through her, she was rendered momentarily speechless. She felt absolutely wonderful! This large form felt so powerful and impressive, and she towered over all she knew. She was an impressive specimen, and she studied her new body with pride. With it, she would destroy this wizard!

“She could crush us with her feet!” someone yelled.

“Or burn us with her breath!” another hollered in answer.

“Please leave us!” an old man begged. “Please, before you harm someone...even if it's an accident...”

Cynthia let out an angry howl, setting a small hut aflame.

“Stop her or she'll burn the whole village down!” the town blacksmith warned, and several brave men rushed at her, but one young man quickly barred their advances.

“What are you doing? She's giving her life to help you, and this is how you repay her? Put out this hut, and thank this girl. Then let her go on her way and pray for her safe and victorious return.”

The man who spoke was Simon, a farmer's son. He had always cared for Cynthia, but only quietly and from afar. As a powerful sorceress, she hardly acknowledged about his existence.

So Cynthia went off to battle the wizard, but he was well aware of her approach, and being older and far more cunning than her, he simply took control of her and used her as a tool for further destruction.

Simon endured years of this torture, pained that the pretty girl had become the puppet of evil. After Cynthia, a succession of men and women followed and unsuccessfully attempted to battle the wizard. Some of them were killed, and the ones who lived remained locked in dragon form for the rest of their lives. The neighoring village had sent Selena, the daughter of a warrior, to battle the wizard, only to have her return to their village in defeat. But unlike Simon's own village, Selena's town had welcomed her back with open arms, and she defended and took care of the village from then on. She became more beloved and well-known than she ever had been in human form.

But Simon's heart ached for the young Cynthia. She had become the fear of the land. Malefor's control and her strengthening powers made her nearly unstoppable, and the wizard-proclaimed king ruled the area with an iron fist. He extracted taxes and favors from the people, and whomever did not please him was visited by the evil Cinder-Dragon, who had obtained this name for she only left cinders in her stead.

When the wizard requested Simon's neighbor's daughter, a young milkmaid, to be sent to him and she refused, he changed her into a cow. The girl was only thirteen, and Simon had known her from birth.

It was enough. The time had come to destroy the wizard.

Simon's mother, unbeknownst to many, was daughter of a great sorceress from a faraway land. Simon too had exhibited great powers although he suppressed and denied them. But since Cynthia's loss, he had begun working hour after hour with his mother, honing in on his abilities, and growing more knowledgeable and powerful by the day. He would be the one to save Cynthia, and he would stop the wizard once and for all.

While still a man, Simon approached the wizard's castle, and there, perched atop a mountainous area, was Cynthia. “You dare to come here, you farmer's son?” she spat, flapping her enormous wings indignantly.

“Dear Cynthia, he controls you,” Simon cried, his voice wavering slightly. “I wish you to be free of his hold.”

“I am Cynder,” she murmured, studying him. No one had ever tried to help her before, and the change of events baffled her. “I am quite free, thank you.” She held up a leg. “I bear no chains.”

“He holds you by invisible chains,” Simon uttered. With that, he drank down the potion from the glass vial he held, the dragon's emerald eyes upon him all the while.

As he concentrated on pushing his metamorphosis along, she tossed out, “Ah, you raise a glass to me, my new friend?” But as his body began to shudder and shift, she drew in her breath. “You join us, or you do battle with us?”

Simon groaned as his wings sprouted. “I shall never battle the beautiful dragoness. I battle the one that owns her soul- argh...” He stared behind himself as a growing tail burst through his robes and gave no sign of stopping.

Cynder remained strangely silent. She did not impede the young man's transformation, instead she watched in fascination. This silly boy who had often eyed her in the village had touched off something in her heart that she had not felt in ages.

She would let him battle the wizard as he wished. He was quite attractive as a dragon, even though he was slightly purplish.

“They sent a farmer's son to do battle with you, Master,” Cynder announced as they entered a great hall covered in red velvets. She escorted him directly up to the wizard-king himself. “I thought it might amuse you.”

A small smile broke out on the man's face. For such an ancient person, he was surprisingly youthful, with pitch-black hair and perfect skin. He did not even sport the requisite long wizard's beard. “I can see this, my dear. And I can sense the slight sympathy you feel for the silly boy. Perhaps I will let you keep him as a pet?”

“You might want to shrink him down a bit for that.”

“Perhaps I'll also make him of cotton so he's harmless?”

“Like a little dragon ragdoll?” Cynder chuckled a few flames from her mouth. “Oh, no. I like my pets to be able to move.”

Simon watched the two carefully. He knew the man was powerful, and he was sure the wizard knew of his intentions. He just hoped that, as his mother had said, the man would not be able to read his dragon's mind. He must not know what powers Simon had brought to this dragon-form, and he must not know his plans.

“Take your hold off of her,” Simon demanded of the wizard, who still bantered with the dragoness.

The man stopped mid-sentence, blinking at the audacity of the dragon that towered above him. “Why should I? She's very happy to serve me.”

“You have her under your spell. Of course she does.”

Cynder inserted, “I'm with him of my own free will, and I wish to remain with him.”

“What do you know of free will?” mourned Simon, gazing into the clear green eyes. He felt like he was being swallowed into their depths. “This is not the Cynthia I knew. That Cynthia would never kill. That Cynthia would never wreak the havoc that you've brought on your own countryfolk.”

“They were mean to me,” she whimpered, and the wizard looked surprised at this admission.

“And your master is worse! He owns you! He has you imprisoned under many deep, interwoven spells!”

Malefor snorted and rose, now exhibiting some interest in the young man. “What do you know of spells, farmer's son? Did the local magician give you a dragon potion and tell you to breathe on me? How do you plan on defeating one who has left many dragons in his path?”

“Let her go, leave our land, and I won't destroy you.”

“Destroy me? With what? A hoe?”

Cynder laughed, but there was a nervous undertone to it.

“You do understand that battling with me and using dragon magic will lock you into the form of a dragon. You can never return to humanity.”

“Yes, I'm very aware of that.”

The wizard turned away. “So run off to your mother now, little boy. Save yourself while you can. Let the bigger wizards worry about your little girlfriend and me.”

Simon launched himself on the man, breathing a hot burst of flame onto him. The floor, walls, and chair burst into flame. The wizard did not.

Feebly, Cynder stepped towards the dragon to stop him, but Malefor shooed her off. “Really, now? You think no one's tried that before? Silly, silly boy. I gave you your chance to escape. Now it is lost. But,” he stepped from the flames and began to grow taller. “I shall take a more imposing form in your honor.”

“Catch him in a moment of weakness – when he's transforming!” one of his mother's teachings poked into his head. And as Malefor shuddered and moaned through his changes, Simon threw all his rage and power at the man, encasing him in a green cocoon of fire and holding him in it mid-transformation. Through the flames he could see the half-man, half-dragon cry out and try to fight, but Simon threw spell after spell at him, shrinking and weakening the wizard until he took on a strange silvery sheen. He began to melt to the ground this way, becoming a shapeless, quivering puddle on the floor which soon grew still.

Simon stared down at the hardened lump in silence.

“You saved us,” said a voice behind him. It was the sweet voice of a young sorceress, and he had not heard it for many years. He turned to see the black dragon still there, but a softness had come back to her emerald eyes, and she walked towards him in awe and gratitude.

“I was hoping you'd change back to a person,” he murmured to her.

“No, alas, my friend, you and I are fated to be dragon for the rest of our lives. The most powerful magic cannot change that. We have engaged in dragon magic, so we cannot go back to before.”

“I don't understand why no one tried what I did to stop him.”

Cynder sighed. “Your magic is strong. Plus,” she looked away. “I stopped everyone from hurting him. I didn't think he'd need help against you.”

“Guess he did.” Morosely, Simon went to the shiny puddle and gazed at it. “I turned him into silver. He's gone for good.”

“We'll sell him and give him out to the people he's wronged,” Cynder decided, inhaling deeply. Her past evil deeds began to flow through her mind, and she cringed. “So much suffering...I've caused so much suffering...” Her eyes watered. “I have...hurt...so many...” The tears began to flow down her scales.

“You were under his control,” Simon said, approaching her.

“Yes, but it was still me. I tortured the people. I burned their houses,” she paused, deep in thought. “My dear Simon, I thank you for freeing me when I did not know I was prisoner. Now I must go right all the wrongs I've committed under my master's control.”

And, with Simon at her side, she traveled the earth, helping people in need, and setting whatever she could back to rights. This made her feel mildly better. Yet she was never truly trusted, and often feared. Many people worried that she would be tempted to go back to her evil ways. Her heinous deeds followed her wherever she went, and, even though she was accompanied by Simon, the savior of the land, her past always haunted her.

When she returned to her own village, her own family cast her out, quickly joined by the townspeople. “Selena the Dragoness came home and she defends her village. She is loved by us all, and she would never hurt anyone. She even gives the children rides on her back! Why couldn't you have done this, instead of terrorizing the land along with the Dark Wizard-king?”

These words echoed through Cynder's mind over and over. Ignoring the cries of “All hail Simon, deliverer of the land” from the same people who sought to drive her out, Cynder roamed off alone as Simon soaked in the applause and general adoration. She loved her life with Simon, but her past deeds hurt her to no end. And she found she was intensely jealous of Selena, whom everyone always seemed to be speaking of. She had known Selena to be a silly, lazy girl who was mean to most people. Now she was a beautiful protectress dragon, and everyone loved her.

Cynder flew to Selena's village and watched its activities from afar. A great cave had been made into a home for the girl-dragon. Flowering trees and bushes had been planted around the opening, and even now, women strung roses from the top of the entrance.

One of the women hanging the flowers spoke a bit too loudly, and another one grabbed and quieted her. “Shush, the beloved one sleeps!” she warned.

Cynder wanted to be the 'beloved one'. She wanted to be Selena.

When the girl-dragon came forth from her cave into the daylight, the women cried in greeting to her and Selena smiled appreciatively at their work. “Lovely flowers, my friends,” she called out to them, and they bowed to her in response.

No, they would bow to Cynder. Selena did not deserve this.

The jealous dragon pulled together all her power, and, drawing on the darkness she had locked away, her form flickered into a mere beam of light. She directed herself straight at Selena and began to join with her.

The unsuspecting dragon froze, letting out a strangled cry, but Cynder ignored this. She was enjoying the feeling of taking over this girl's surprisingly muscular form. Her mind fell back to the pride she felt when Malefor had praised her for torturing or murdering his targets. It felt wonderful to take this undeserving girl's happy life over. Cynder deserved some happiness too! She poured and stretched into every corner of Selena's body until she was able to claim it as her own. “Please help me!” she could hear Selena's small voice in her head, but she did not answer, merely banishing the scared girl to the far depths of her mind.

Cynder's transformation was complete, and she made a contented sigh. Now she would be loved.

Simon had been enjoying his adoring crowd way too much. When he finally pulled himself away, Cynder was long gone. He began a search that would last many weeks until he could locate his lost love. And he worried for her.

As Selena, Cynder slept better than she had slept in ages. The villagers had bedecked the cave in soft fabrics and cushions, which was far more comfortable than the dirt and leaves she had grown accustomed to sleeping in. Her sleep was deep and uninterrupted, and she was awakened by the sun streaming through cracks in the rock above, as well as smells of delicious foods she remembered from her human life.

People were entering her cave and placing platter upon platter of breakfast foods before her. Fruits, cakes, cheeses, and breads had been cooked for her, and she knew she could engulf them all. Changing into a dragon had not dulled her love for any human foods, and she began to eat with relish.

“Your flowers, dear Selena,” said a woman. She and a man approached the dragon's head to slip an enormous necklace of flowers around it. The thought was nice, but Cynder found herself a bit irritated by their timing. She did not like her breakfast being interrupted for something as silly as flowers.

When she was sufficiently adorned, the people bowed to her and left, allowing her to finish in peace.

For a moment, Cynder was happy she was being bowed to. Then she realized – the bow was for Selena, not Cynder! The people were bowing to Selena, a silly girl who came back a failure from her quest. This girl was being worshiped? She hadn't destroyed the wizard! Simon had! Why did this girl deserve any adulation?

The day went on like this,with the occasional visit from townspeople followed by large amounts of food. Then, in the afternoon, a familiar woman entered. Cynder remembered her as Selena's mother.

She felt a pang in the pit of her stomach as the old woman approached, pride in her face. “My daughter, how are you today?” she patted at Cynder's scaly side.

“Well,” Cynder answered guardedly. Her voice echoed through the cave, which momentarily shocked her as it was not truly her voice...

“It is a year since you transformed, to the very day, my daughter. I brought you this,” she put a cake before her. “Cheesecake, just like you...liked...” the woman's eyes watered. “Oh, my dear, how I miss waking up and seeing you at the breakfast table with your pretty eyes and hair...not that you're not a beautiful dragon, of course...And so brave...Giving your very form up to battle evil...Now you're stuck as a monster... Oh, my daughter...” The woman's tears fell, and she was hanging off of Cynder's front leg. It was all Cynder could do not to shake her off.

“So brave. So brave...You are our hero. You know that, right?”

“I got that with all the bowing townspeople and all,” Cynder finally snapped.

The woman looked surprised. “Selena, are you not well? Are they making you unhappy?”

Cynder realized that she better be careful or she would be identified as an impostor. “No, the food and the flowers,” she wriggled the necklace with a claw, “are just lovely.”

“Good. Good. We only want you to be happy. You've done so much for us.”

That night Cynder's sleep was wracked with guilty dreams. Selena and her mother's faces were foremost in them, and Selena cried to her in a small voice, locked in a tiny corner of her mind.

She was a powerful dragon. She'd have to find a way of squelching that voice. It was bothersome.

And, although she couldn't admit it to herself, it increasingly made her feel guilty.

For a time, Cynder was relatively content in her new life. She took care of the villagers, and in turn, they brought food to her and garnished her cave with new flowers each day. There was never a nasty word from them, and she spent her days mostly lounging or sleeping with the scent of roses wafting through her cavernous nostrils.

Yet each day went in much the same way as the last. The monotonous flowers, food, and bowing villagers made her grow restless. Selena's voice had become an ignorable whisper on its own, and Cynder wondered what eventually would become of the girl's soul if she stayed this way.

Sometimes children came by and pleaded for rides on Cynder's back, which she gave very reluctantly. The older kids begged her to breathe fire, which she did, often delighting in setting a tree or, in one 'accidental' case, a house, on fire. But she'd always 'save the day' by putting her flames out.

But as she watched the villagers go through their days, she found herself longing to be one of them once more. She could never have this, and being the most loved dragon in the land had to be better than nothing...

But she missed flying through the air with Simon, going on adventure after adventure... She could never let him know that he had, in essence, taken possession of young Selena's life. He would be so angry with her that he might never speak with her again...and she couldn't have that.

But she could never be with him if she remained in Selena's body...

A woman came to her with the day's roses, and her young daughter handed them to her while she strung them up.

How she wished she could have had a child.

Then there were rumors that a foreign king's army was going to try to take over the land. The villagers all came to her, pleading for her help. She was disgusted with them at this point, but she had to play her part...

At midnight only days later, men from the village poured into her cave with torches, and for a frightful moment she thought they had figured out her true identity. But they were there to tell her that the soldiers were spotted across the hills and would descend on them within the hour.

Cynder stretched lazily. “Leave it to me,” she uttered nonchalantly, and, to the cheers of the men, she made her way out of the cave.

Striding into the hills, she located the oncoming army, and as they began to shoot arrows into her scaly side, she pulled one particularly irritating one out. “Hey, you damaged my scale!” she cried, her anger increasing with every second. No one dared hurt her! No one! She picked up the offending soldier, who began to scream in fear. “I...can't...have that!!” She yelled into the man's face, deafening him instantly. The onslaught of arrows stopped suddenly as Cynder gored the soldier with her claws. As the blood spurted from the dead man's body, she tossed him to the ground, immediately ashamed of her action.

“Get the hell out of here, all of you,” she mumbled, and blew fire at the soldiers until they ran off like children. She turned and went back to her cave, not bothering to see how many men she had killed. The smell of burning flesh was all the proof she needed.

“Oh, how bravely you acted!” exclaimed Selena's mother. It seemed the whole town and people from the neighboring towns as well were all there, worshiping her, tossing her flowers, and dumping food at her feet. “We thank you, our savior Selena!”

Cynder knew she should be happy. This was what she wanted. She always ached to be loved and adored, not feared and distrusted.

But this silly, fake...failure...wasn't beautiful Cynder, who soared through the skies battling evil...

What scared her was that being Selena had pushed her to hurt the soldier, making her slip back into the dark side of her soul, which she never had wanted to revisit.

Soon she could stand being Selena no longer. Being feared could be changed. Simon could tell everyone of her deeds. And having a bit of a past, well, it was more exciting than Selena's life of lounging and sleeping. No wonder no one was scared of Selena. She didn't do much of anything...well, except if some soldiers needed scaring off...

More and more guilt was washing over Cynder. This wasn't right, and she could practically hear Simon chiding her for her misconduct...

When spotted Simon flying overhead and searching for her, she knew this was a sign. She knew deep down she simply was not capable of taking this young dragon-girl's life from her forever. As annoying as Selena was, she did not deserve to be wiped from reality. So, with reservations, Cynder pulled herself from the dragon's body, and, as merely a beam of light, she apologized to the shaking dragoness without revealing her identity.

“I'm so very sorry,” she whispered. “So sorry.”

Just in case there was the slightest possibility of returning to her true form, she tried to shift back into a human body. But the use of dragon magic had indeed bound her tight, and the only form she could grab was that of her dragon self.

She was flying once more with her Simon, whose name the public now had twisted into the more dragon-like “Spyro”. She never wanted to tear herself from beside his powerful body, and she could now bask in his glory safely without being driven away – he made sure of this, wherever they went. She and the strong male dragon were kindred spirits, fated to be in bodies they were not born in, and they would face this life together.

And one day, Cynder found she was expecting.

She began to cry when she told Simon the news. Befuddled at this reaction, he settled down beside her, curling his wing around her protectively. “Why are you crying? Isn't it what you've always wanted?”

“But I wanted a child, not a dragon...baby.”

Simon was silent for many moments. “I need to talk to my mother.” With that, he flew off.

Hours passed by, and Cynder remained in the grassy clearing, scanning the sky for his return.

When he returned, he was out of breath but his scaly face was full of hope. He held a blue bottle in his claws. “Drink this,” he instructed, handing it to her.

Cynder scrutinized him, wondering what this liquid was and how it would solve any of her problems, but she trusted him with every bit of her soul, and, with shaking claws, she drank it.

Cynder gave birth to a daughter named Hope. The girl was completely human, and more beautiful than any child of monsters should have been. And though she lived with dragons, her parents taught her to read and write, and they taught her the ways of the human world. She grew up surprisingly normal and wise for her age.

Despite the myths about the immortality of dragons, Cynder and Spyro were sadly not immortal. They grew to very ripe old age quite happily, then passed on.

And I, Hope, remain to tell their story. Yes, you might have heard their names in stories or video games, but that is fiction. I share their true stories with a select few every generation or so. Because somehow, through the magic of my parents, I am immortal.