Cypher pulled a dark brown cloak from within his ring and draped it around his shoulders. He then took off at a full sprint towards his chosen city. He had picked the bigger-looking one since it seemed that it would be a more viable place to gather information.
Cypher ran casually, his Zight Stanza only leeching about 2% of his Zight every ten minutes. Still, even with that low level of energy consumption, he was able to reach his destination within an hour. He had to stop a few times to catch his breath and drink from his waterskin, but he was always back to running within a few minutes.
It was during this run that he tested the limits of his newly advanced body. It was far more durable and powerful than he had first thought. He didn’t need to stop or drink given the new vitality that coursed through him, but he felt it best to keep a close eye on his condition while he was still learning the limits of this newfound strength.
Keeping a close eye on his condition was important if he was to understand himself on a deeper level. Advancing in power was a slow climb for Conductors. Knowing their absolute limits at each rank was valuable information that they would need for further improvements as they grew stronger. Not to mention it was important for them to know their battle potency if they walked a path beyond that of Arcane study.
It would take many more trials to know the full extent of his power, but as he walked through the front gates of what turned out to be Dungor he had a better understanding of his limits. The town looked old and worn, but its people lived quite happily from the looks of things. Children ran through the streets pretending to be their favorite warriors or Conductors. They waved their wooden swords and wands as they ran, laughing happily as they did.
Shops were set up all over the place. They were mostly just little stalls selling different items, but all of them were very busy. People laughed and joked as they went about their business and it seemed that at least here, peace continued to thrive. People here spoke the same language as Cypher, but there was an obvious accent that made the words sound just slightly different.
These streets were chaotic, and Cypher wasn’t used to them. In Seven City, things were well organized and the districts were easy to navigate. Here though, he felt lost and disoriented. He didn’t even know where to start, but as he stumbled through the mass of people with his hood drawn, he came across a tavern.
It was well known that places like these were hubs for information and gossip, so he stepped inside. Merchants and other adventurers would stop in here to rest and enjoy a good drink. Cypher knew that all he had to do was wait and listen. He walked up to the bar and ordered a tankard of mead, he then found an empty spot near the back to sit and listen in peace. The chatter around the room was mostly boring and unrelated to his own questions.
A milkmaid and a local lord had been caught having an affair. The town drunk had fallen into the well again. Several kids had been caught painting lewd images on the monastery dedicated to the Goddess Morrighan near the town square. A group of bandits had occupied an old watchtower up the road. More and more of these unimportant facts kept piling up and Cypher soon grew bored.
He took several swigs of his mead during his time in the tavern, but nothing of great use was revealed to him. The sharp sting of the alcohol didn’t even help to ease his nerves. With such a powerful body, mortal libations like this wouldn’t even phase him. Still he needed to blend in as much as possible, and so he drank.
With nothing of great importance to be learned here, he decided to head to the other city to see if he could find out anything there. He procured a map for a few Lumens and soon discovered that it was a town called Stratos. It was a mining town but not one of great note. Still, given the fact that many shipments of ore and other valuable minerals came and went through there, he imagined that someone might have something of value to tell him.
With the day still quite young, he began running towards the city at full speed. It took him another two hours to reach it, however, as he arrived he saw that it was nothing more than burnt wood, twisted metal, and tumbling ruins. Everything that might have once been here was gone.
The people lay dead in the streets or piled on still-smoldering fires. Houses and buildings were burned, broken, and silent. From the looks of things, this had happened only a few days ago at most. As the wind blew through the quiet graveyard of a town, a scrap of someone’s cloak blew across the ground.
A strange symbol adorned the tattered cloth, and Cypher knew what had happened here almost instantly. His rage bubbled up as the image of Alylynah and Nuadha flashed in his mind, but it faded quickly, replaced by a mournful sadness. With a heavy heart, Cypher went about using his Zight to move and bury the many citizens who had once lived here.
The solemn work took the rest of the day, most of the bodies were horribly burned or reduced to pieces. Although he had planned to bury each person in their own grave he realized that such a task was beyond his solitary efforts. Instead, he simply dug out a mass grave.
He used his Zight, several spells in his arsenal, and resources from the mines the citizens had gathered to create a solid marble vault. Within it he placed all the remains he could gather and then proceeded to cleanse the area with holy water from the temple of Merrigos. Even this sacred place had been destroyed during the Order’s attack, but only on the surface. The undercroft had remained untouched and so too had its supply of blessed water used in the burial process.
Having ensured that the undead would not spawn in this area or within the tomb he had crafted, he sealed the vault shut and buried it. He marked the mass grave with a simple-looking marble and granite headstone onto which he inscribed a small epitaph honoring and remembering the citizens who had once lived here.
He had not known them. He had not been a member of their society or even a member of their country, but despite that, he could not simply leave them exposed to the elements. The work had been hard but it was nothing he couldn’t handle. He had not been able to do the same when Haelwin town had been attacked by the Order and so he was glad to have the chance to do it now.
By the time he was done, the sun had just finished setting. There was nothing more to do here, and as he turned to leave, he placed a charred doll of a young girl that had been in the center of the apparent chaos next to the headstone. With his task complete, his rage returned once more.
The Order of Eternal Night wasn’t just a group of evil Conductors. They were monsters who needed to be put down. He didn’t know why they had attacked a city like this, but the reasoning didn’t matter in the slightest. They had slaughtered an entire town without mercy. Several tracks led out of the city, but it was obvious from the piles of bodies at the end of those trails that they had belonged to the townsfolk as they tried to escape.
Most of the bodies here had belonged to women and children, and seeing such carnage made him sick to his stomach. It only served to remind him just how evil the cult truly was. They took no prisoners and left no one alive. The entire city of Stratos had been wiped out and left to rot in the sun.
Cypher spent a while, after putting the citizens to rest, sitting on the banks of the nearby Alma River. He watched as the stars glittered across the sky, and washed his hands in the cool running water before he returned to Syntinnial’s cottage later that evening. When he walked through the door, he saw the old man sitting by the fire reading a book. He greeted Cypher with a solemn expression and quietly said, “So, did you find anything interesting while you were out?”
Cypher glared at him and squatted down to meet Syntinnial’s gaze, “You knew didn’t you?” he asked in a hushed tone.
“Cypher I-” he began.
“You knew! Didn’t you?!” Cypher yelled, shaking the rafters of the cottage a bit as his rage and aura unfolded around him.
Syntinnial closed his book and folded his hands before answering. “Yes, I knew. However, you needed to see what kind of force you are dealing with. The Order is merciless Cypher, and they almost always get what they want without care or concern for others.”
Enraged, Cypher replied, “Innocent people Syntinnial! Children and women alike! All of them slaughtered… Why?”
“Cypher you need to understand-” began Syntinnial, but Cypher was done with his roundabout way of talking.
“Why?!?” Cypher yelled again, and Syntinnial sighed and frowned.
“Fine, you want to know why? I’ll tell you. They were looking for you Cypher. After you disappeared from that warehouse in Dellorim, the Order began searching for you all over again. All four of the lieutenants within the Usurper Sect are after you. Their orders are to capture, or kill you. As well as anyone that stands in their way,” the old man replied.
“But why would they attack Stratos, and why didn’t you do anything to stop them? Aren’t you supposed to be some kind of super-powerful Conductor? You could have handled them on your own without breaking a sweat! Or does immortality mean you no longer care about the plight of mere mortals?” asked Cypher, frustration burning in his eyes.
“Cypher… Your rift scar led directly through Stratos. Since you weren’t there, they burnt it to the ground before I could stop them. Besides, even now I am limited in what I can do. I’m at the end of my life cycle and my powers are in flux. It was all I could do to simply mask your presence inside that cave, and even that took everything I had,” replied Syntinnial.
Cypher was still angry with Syntinnial. There had to be something else he could have done. Right? Right? But another question quickly took root in his mind and a feeling of dread filled him as he asked, “What the hell is a rift scar?” asked Cypher.
“When teleporting like that, one tends to leave behind a tear in the fabric of the world. It fades somewhat quickly but if a Conductor is skilled enough, they can pinpoint where the exit point might be, or even follow the first person through,” answered Syntinnial.
“Teleporting in general isn’t as smooth a process as people seem to think it is. You don’t simply vanish from one spot and arrive in another. It’s more like bouncing around through the gaps in reality. No matter the distance or skill of the one teleporting, one tends to leave a trail.”
Cypher struggled to keep his composure as he turned to face the door. “You seem to know an awful lot about what has been happening to me lately. I want answers Syntinnial. You can’t expect me to trust you unless you trust me enough to be honest first. What do you know?”
The old man lowered his head, “I will explain everything soon enough, but there is more you should know. Your trail also went through Dungor, and the Farnor Chaos Cell is heading there now.”
Wide-eyed, Cypher turned back to face him. “Why didn’t you mention this sooner?! We have to stop them!”
Syntinnial only shook his head and said, “There’s no time, not on foot. By now they will be breaching the front gates.”
