Cypher and Alex were shaken up for weeks after the events of Finn’s Deep. It was understandable that they would be in such a state. Not only had they come face to face with an unbeatable opponent, but they had barely escaped with their lives.
Furthermore, they had been forced to absorb the souls of several people. That meant that their entire lives were now memories that Alex and Cypher had to live with. That wasn’t to say that they would have their personalities altered, but it did mean that they knew things that they hadn’t before and remembered places and people that they had never visited or met.
To an outside observer, the exchange took only an instant. The souls would enter their bodies, Cypher and Alex would shudder, and then collapse to their knees in tears. However, within their minds, they had lived the length of every day, every moment of these people’s lives. Technically speaking, they were hundreds of years old mentally, and their mental spaces reflected that change.
Cypher’s Athenaeum doubled in size even though he hadn’t trained in the Architect’s Draft, and Alex gained more control and influence over his own mental space like Conductors without an Athenaeum would. Their Orriums had grown in size as well and overall their experience had made them stronger.
But the trauma of undergoing something like that stuck with them. Their dreams were scattered messes of past and present moments from various lives. Sometimes they even lost track of themselves.
However, over time, the memories faded away, and the only thing left behind was the knowledge that those people had possessed, such as spells, combat techniques, and things like that. Nothing remained of their personal lives that Cypher and Alex didn’t endeavor to remember. This made the healing process easier for them.
That said, they still feared the return of that ancient evil that had spawned in the depths of Finn’s Deep. Cypher had explained to Alex all he knew about these “Minus” but that only seemed to make things worse. Louis had been killed long ago and removed from this world. But with his resurrection, he had regained all of his past memories and experiences.
His power was something to be feared as well. He read like a being in the fourth rank, however, it was clear that his power was more akin to something at the peak of the fifth rank, perhaps even the lowest rung of the sixth rank. This lined up with what little information Cypher had about the Minus and it terrified him.
To be born into this world already beyond the peak of what humans could strive for was insane. Cypher couldn’t think of a single force in this world that could match up to that. Of course, that wasn’t to say that Relic Ranked Conductors didn’t exist, Cypher just wasn’t aware of any who did. The question was, would they even be a match for Louis?
Louis hadn’t even used a sliver of his power until the moment the sunlight hit him. Then it had only been for an instant, but that movement speed was unreal. It was almost like he had teleported backward. In any event, Cypher was nowhere near strong enough to face him again, and he worried about the promise Louis had made, “Rest assured, we will meet again little mortals, that I promise you.“
The words echoed throughout his mind and sent a shiver down his spine. Would he be safe if he stayed inside his home for the rest of his days? Probably not, if Louis was as powerful as a Relic Ranked Conductor, then he could likely break into this place eventually.
Cypher’s only hope for survival was to get stronger. But after such an experience, he didn’t know if he could push forward and keep training himself. It seemed a pointless task if something like that could just return from nowhere and put his efforts to shame.
Cypher didn’t care to do much aside from play with Spark, or mope about his home. Alex was no doubt doing something similar and if not for the fact that they were Conductors, the two might have remained that way forever.
However, something aside from fear had been born inside them during that nightmarish experience.
A fierce determination to grow more powerful compelled both of them, and despite their attempts to shy away from it and wallow in their fear, it soon overtook them. They entered into a period of unparalleled training, the likes of which they had never experienced on their own before. Cypher didn’t renege on his oath to avoid his home’s training rooms, but he did head out into the world to find stronger opponents than himself.
Alex did the same, and the two soon began taking contracts from the local hunters guild in an attempt to empower themselves. There was, after all, a massive influx of powerful Zightbeasts roaming the land for an unknown reason and it needed handling. They would also make a nice profit in their efforts and so the training worked on two levels.
When they weren’t hunting down powerful Zightbeasts, they were deep in the study of new spells and powers they had yet to tap into, honing their skills with their weapons, or meditating and reflecting on their growth.
Cypher’s training with the Architect’s Draft continued, and he even began loaning out his spare copy to Alex so that he could forge a proper Athenaeum. Alex took to the Architect’s draft with surprising ease, and soon, had altered his mental space into an Athenaeum of his own. He even ended up having a breakthrough and became a complete Rank-One Conductor.
Their growth was impressive over the course of those two months, much faster than it had been before it. Life and death struggles could either make or break a Conductor and for these two, it had been the former.
Their renewed vigor drove them forward undaunted, and one could perhaps attribute that to the fear of Louis Balistane’s eventual return into their lives, but right now, they were proud that they had surpassed their previous limits and were growing quickly.
However, for Cypher, there were still things he needed to attend to. For one, he needed to visit and speak with Elaine. Not only did he have questions about his father, but he also sought ways to improve his strength faster. Elaine would have those answers.
He also needed to speak with Alvin. That belt he had discovered had been an oddity, and he assumed that he wanted nothing more to do with it. However, something about it drew his curiosity and he had to find out more about it if only to quell his mind. On top of that he needed to warn the world of the coming threat. Something as powerful and dangerous as a Minus returning to the fold could upturn all of society and it would only be a matter of time before chaos broke out.
Lastly, he had to make amends with Melodi. It was strange that something like that was still on his mind during this hectic period, but he had made a promise all those years ago, and it was time to make good on it however he could.
