Cypher dropped to one knee and focused on the wings again. His armor responded in kind and the silvery wings sprouted forth once again. With a twinge of effort and thought, they flapped hard and Cypher was launched high into the sky at a ridiculous speed.
The feeling left him smiling and full of excitement and he gasped as his new wings held him aloft for the first time. He narrowed his eyes and flapped hard twice, catching up to Syntinnial within a few moments. All he wanted to do was fly as high and as fast as he could, but he knew that this was neither the time nor the place.
Syntinnial drifted through the air aided by his will alone. It was much different than Cypher’s flight, but Cypher could feel the aura radiating from him as they flew. “Let us get back to the matter at hand shall we?” asked Syntinnial.
“When we get to Dungor, it’s going to be total chaos. You have to remember that this will be just like war. The only difference is that they will be trying to capture you alive if possible. They’ll go for injuries that won’t kill but cripple. Protect your arms and legs well Cypher. Understand?”
Cypher nodded and Syntinnial continued, “You obviously don’t want to be captured or killed, but your main goal here is to protect as many of the citizens as you possibly can and still manage to fight off the Order. Dungor has protocols set in place to evacuate people and fight off enemies in the event of an invasion like this, so we won’t have to do all of the work. That’s the difference between it and Stratos.”
Cypher made mental notes of all of this as his companion carried on some more, “Try not to concern yourself with me either. I have limits on my powers, but I’m still practically immortal. They cannot kill me in a way that matters.”
“What can you tell me about the Order?” asked Cypher. At that moment, Dungor came into view as they neared their destination.
“The Order of Eternal Night has ranks and stations just like any other military force. It has its lower-rung members and its high-class veterans. On top of that, it’s broken up into several different sects with vastly different goals. Because of that, their overall power is split since the sects rarely work together. I caution you, do not underestimate any of the opponents you face tonight. Looks can be deceiving,” answered Syntinnial.
Cypher brought his hand across his chest and nodded once more as he said, “I owe the people of this city my protection. It’s my fault that this is happening to them, so I’ll do my best to keep their home from being completely destroyed!” Syntinnial patted him on the shoulder and then grimaced as he beheld the city.
Parts of it were already on fire and people could be seen fleeing over a hill in the distance. Still, there were clearly still people inside the city walls who had yet to escape. Soldiers and Conductors could be seen fighting off the Order attack and while they were performing poorly, their efforts were at least giving the bulk of the regular citizens time to escape. Cypher summoned his father’s saber from his ring as his eyes narrowed and he glared down at the attacking Order members.
The two of them exchanged a glance as they prepared to land, and Syntinnial pulled forth his own sword. Cypher hit the ground and rolled with a grunt. At the same time, his wings retracted and he hacked his way through an Order member in the second rank. His blade slid through the man’s body like a hot knife through butter.
Cypher marveled at his new power. The exchange had happened seamlessly and defeating the Conductor had been almost too easy. He inspected himself and saw that his centers of power seemed to be fully recovered.
His mind quickly flashed back to the mead he had heavily consumed without thinking back at Syntinnial’s cottage. He had never been one for drinking, but he now remembered a subtle mental instruction that drove him to consume the liquid. This was the only explanation he could think of and he glared at Syntinnial for basically forcing him to drink it with no explanation.
Syntinnial offered Cypher a look of apology, clearly picking up on what was bothering the young man. “I only wanted to help, and you’re quite stubborn. But never mind that now! You take care of the west and north sides of the city. I’m going to head toward the eastern and southern fronts to see if I can be of any assistance. The citizens will be evacuating from there after all. When all is said and done, we’ll meet back up in the town square.”
Syntinnial finished speaking as he casually cut down another Order member who had charged forward to attack. Cypher nodded in reluctant agreement. “Good luck!” offered Syntinnial, and then he darted off into the distance and vanished from sight.
Cypher took a deep breath as he looked around at the situation. He was on his own now, and he had a job to do. These people would not know the destruction their fellow Farnorians from Stratos had endured. Cypher roared in anger as he cut down two more Order acolytes as he dashed through the streets.
His main goal was to find survivors and guide them towards the south where Syntinnial was. He had no doubt that the man would find no resistance as he fought off the scattered rank 2 and 3 Order members running about. Syntinnial was, after all, a rank seven Conductor even if his powers were severely limited right now.
Cypher’s battles raged almost endlessly over the next thirty minutes. Several Rank-Two acolytes grouped up against him, and cast spells his way. His armor effortlessly reflected all of the attacks and Cypher himself only took very minimal damage. His own counterattacks always left his opponents writhing on the ground as their limbs were either cut away, or his own spells found their marks and ended their lives.
In the span of a half-hour, Cypher had taken down more than twenty Rank-Two Conductors, and his power was still sitting at 75%. He had been converting some of his Zight into his Stanza in order to cut through enemy wards, but thanks to the fine control he had learned with Elaine it was easy to conserve his strength.
Furthermore, since his Orrium had advanced to the Plasma stage, he found that his Zight was five times purer than when he had been at the solid stage. This meant he could use less of it to cast powerful spells or enhance his body for stronger attacks.
With some quick calculations, Cypher realized that if things kept up as they had, he could continue fighting for several more hours. With opponents at this level, it was easy to keep his Zight consumption low. It also helped that they only wanted to capture him, not kill him. That said, a few had abandoned the idea of capturing him and flat-out tried to kill him instead.
Cypher had been caught off guard by that, but some quick thinking on his part had allowed him to narrowly avoid certain death spells aimed at his vital points. Cypher might be wearing some impressive and quite sturdy armor, but he wasn’t about to grow sloppy in his defense and evasion techniques. Glenda would never forgive him if he became sloppy.
Beyond the battles, Cypher had also come across several people along the way. The Order acolytes were doing their best to destroy as much as they could. Because of that, several people had been trapped in their homes. Cypher worked quickly to free them and then led them to safe areas which would allow them to escape.
The local guards and a few of the Conductors he encountered were extremely helpful in his efforts, but they did assume he was an enemy at first. In the chaos of everything and in light of his efforts it wasn’t hard for him to convince them of his intentions. Especially since he was cutting down Order members without mercy.
All in all, he had saved three families and six stragglers on his way through Dungor’s western and northern sections. The people here hadn’t had a lot of Conductors available to protect them. There were, of course, a few hanging around but they had quickly been overwhelmed by the sheer number of Order members attacking.
Cypher could see how Dungor easily fell to ruin under such an attack. The people here, for the most part, lived their lives free of magick and its influence. Magick was truly a fearsome power, and they mostly relied on the government to keep them safe from the bulk of serious dangers.
Cypher somewhat envied them. Living in peace like this had only crossed his mind a few times since he had arrived at the Academy. It wasn’t the life for him, but he could see the appeal others saw in it. To that end, he resolved himself once again to protect them. They only wanted to live in peace, and he wouldn’t allow their city to fall as Stratos had.
He changed course and arrived at the town square. A lot of the buildings had been destroyed, but most only suffered simple burn damage or a few crumbling walls. The losses were mostly cosmetic and only a few dozen citizens had died. Given the force assembled against this city, that was actually quite impressive, but Cypher still felt mournful over their deaths all the same.
It was his fault in the end. That said, he had pretty much cleared out the western and northern sides of the city. He had either killed the Order acolytes, or they had fled upon seeing him. However, as he walked towards the center of the square, the sounds around him grew a little too silent and he soon heard the sound of several spells coming his way.
He leapt backward and avoided a bombardment of five different magickal attacks, and all of them were powers in the third rank. His other battles had been challenging, but not overly difficult. This time though, he would have to get serious.
