Cypher smiled as he pulled out the small gem. He walked over to the center of the grove and activated the seal that would cause the statue to rise from the ground. It only took another moment before the entrance opened up and Melodi let out a surprised gasp.
“That’s amazing! So THIS is what you were looking for back then. I gotta say, I’m surprised, I thought it was like some kind of treasure or something small. I never imagined it would be the secret entrance to your home!”
Cypher gave her a smug look and then held out his arm, “You’ll find it’s much more amazing inside.” Melodi carefully stepped forward and then looked down into the opening. She stepped inside and began to climb down the ladder. After a few moments, Cypher followed after her.
They reached the bottom and Cypher opened the front door for her. She walked inside and froze a second later. “Uhh… good… good Zightbeast. N-no need to attack… Y-you, remember me right? Uh, Cypher you mind calling off this thing?” Cypher looked around her shoulder and smiled as he saw Spark.
He was pressed down on his forelegs ready to leap at Melodi, his fangs bared. A deep growl filled the room and Cypher chuckled, “Come on Spark, be nice, I told you about her already, calm down! It’s okay.”
Upon seeing his master, Spark let out a playful bark, licked Melodi’s face, and then spun in a circle before laying back down in front of the fireplace.
“Gross,” she exclaimed, wiping the saliva from her face. “I almost forgot about Spark! Geez, I wonder what other surprises you have for me down here.” Cypher pulled her further into the living room and the two took off their shoes before stepping onto the carpet.
“You’ll find that this place has a lot more surprises in store, and as promised, I’ll show them all to you!” Cypher replied, and he moved over to pet Spark. He pulled a hunk of dried meat from within his dimensional pocket and held it in front of the Ceraunus, who quickly took it and began gnawing it greedily.
Melodi looked around and noticed the black void outside the windows. She moved closer, a look of wonder on her face, and pressed her hand against the cool glass. “This is… incredible. How did you manage this? I… Are we inside a dimensional pocket?” asked Melodi.
Cypher nodded as a smile of pride appeared on his face and explained, “My parents left me this place before they… disappeared. You picked up on the dimensional pocket thing a lot faster than I did. I foolishly just opened up the window my first time here. I don’t know how they did it, but I like to not question things like that.”
Melodi nodded and turned to face him, “So this is where you holed up for five years, no wonder I couldn’t find you around the city. I could always sense your elemental affinity, but I could never pinpoint its exact location. Now I know why. How big is this place?” she asked, and Cypher held out his hand to her.
“Let me show you,”
Melodi took his hand, and Cypher led her all around the mansion. He showed her the library first, and she happily roamed through the bookshelves and admired his vast collection of knowledge. They even spent a while flipping through a few of the older tomes, books she had never seen that contained knowledge just as foreign to her.
She marveled at his collection of Architect’s Drafts, and he spent a little while explaining how they work to her. Once again, he decided to loan out the ones he wasn’t using. Of course, she would have to share with Alex, but he was sure they could work out a fair and balanced system so that they could both achieve proper results.
After all, who wouldn’t want a stronger mental space? The only problem would, of course, be if Cypher fell behind in his own training and allowed them to catch up. Then they’d all have to share a single copy of the Rank-Two Drafts. He wasn’t looking forward to that possibility, and so he decided to increase his training in response.
The two spent a lot of time in the library, and Melodi even helped him organize some of the tomes that had been placed on incorrect shelves. The current system was easy enough to learn and remember, but still, many of the books were out of place. Cypher hadn’t done that, and so he had a good chuckle about how it must have been his father who failed to return them to the proper location.
The two sat beneath a floating crystal radiating light for a while and talked. Most of it was inconsequential, but other topics were more interesting. Melodi spoke of her time at the academy. How she had aced all her tests, passed all her classes, and even impressed Glenda with her mastery of the bow.
She mentioned how Glenda would always speak of a certain student that had surprised her, and surpassed her expectations. She never failed to remind the class that this student was a better warrior than them. Melodi of course knew that it was Cypher she was referring to.
Cypher could only laugh upon hearing that, and Melodi playfully punched him. After a while, the two got up, and headed off to see the rest of the large mansion.
They soon made their way to the armory, and Melodi gushed over the quality of some of the bows contained inside. “These are master crafts from Julian the Sharp!” she began, picking up a stark white bow. It had a glittering silver drawstring and was wrapped in gold vines, heavy with details.
One could almost believe that they were real vines made of solid gold, but that just spoke of the quality of such a weapon. It was also heavily enchanted. Countless wards, and spells, most of which Cypher knew nothing about, could be sensed as one held the bow and truly it was quite magnificent.
“Most of them were destroyed hundreds of years ago, and yet somehow, you have twelve of his finest works! Oh, my gods! You even have the matching quivers!” exclaimed Melodi. She held a look of disbelief on her face, and Cypher shrugged his shoulders to denote his ignorance.
“To be fair, my parents collected these. I’m no archer, so I’ve always just left them alone. I had no idea they were so rare. Powerful sure, I could easily tell that just by looking at them, but their rarity escaped me.”
Cypher smiled as a thought occurred to him. “You know, if you want, you can actually have one if it pleases you. They aren’t doing any good sitting down here forgotten to the world collecting dust.”
Melodi’s eyes opened wider than he had seen them so far and she almost dropped the bow in her hands out of shock. She inhaled sharply as she regained her grip on the weapon, and quickly shook her head.
She offered the bow in her hands back to Cypher, and said, “I couldn’t possibly take one of these! I’m barely worthy enough to even hold one of Julian’s works! Besides, I doubt I could even draw one of these at my current level!”
Cypher chuckled and pushed the bow back towards her, “Nah really, it’s okay. Save it for when you get stronger. Really, I don’t plan on using bows anytime soon so consider it an additional apology for five years ago. Also, if you want, you can rotate through the whole set here if you like. Otherwise, they’ll just go to waste. Feel free to exchange bows any time, just uh, let me know alright?”
Melodi pulled the bow to her chest, her eyes filling with tears of joy. She bowed deeply to him and said, “Thank you very much! I’ll treasure it… them always!” Cypher blushed and rubbed the back of his head. He wasn’t used to such praise and it made him a little uncomfortable.
“Think nothing of it! Now, let’s keep moving, there are many more places to explore!” Cypher led her to the next series of rooms. The illusory Zightbeast training hall, the high-density Zight chamber, and even the environmental simulator.
Melodi seemed to really enjoy that last one, and as they walked inside, Cypher tuned it to display a wide-open, grassy field at night. Countless stars littered the sky and all of them were accurate to the real sky at night. He would come here to this exact configuration quite often and simply stare up at the sky for hours on end while he trained his Orrium. It was peaceful, and quiet, and it filled him with a sense of grand purpose each time he gazed up at the stars.
Melodi looked up, and her eyes filled with the radiance of those bright pinpricks of light. Cypher could only stare at her with new eyes as he was captivated by her wide smile. It was one thing to enjoy the stars on his own, but he found that he liked it even more with Melodi here.
He hid a smile as he thought about the idea of spending more time with her like this. Of course, the mere idea of that set his face ablaze with heat and he quickly slapped himself out of his little daydream.
He looked back and Melodi, and she only stared at him with wonder. “You have such an incredible home Cypher, but I suppose it’s fitting for someone equally as incredible.” The two of them blushed and looked away, but neither seemed to notice the other.
They soon found a nice spot to lie down and stargaze. Even the wind in this room was simulated. It blew softly and carried with it the sweet smell of spring, or perhaps autumn leaves, Cypher couldn’t quite tell. Either way, it soothed his mind and brought him calm. Spark soon lumbered in and joined them.
The large Ceraunus was carrying his stuffed bean and seemed to want to play. Melodi giggled as Cypher struggled to tear the bean from Spark’s mouth, and when he finally did, he handed it to Melodi. Spark followed his bean and sat in front of her with expectant eyes.
“Just throw it as hard as you can. He’s a good boy, he’ll go get it and bring it back to you. However I must warn you, and it’s very important you pay close attention. This decision will change your life forever, and so it’s important that you understand,” Melodi looked at Cypher with intensity and a small bit of fear.
Cypher continued, “If you throw that bean, there is no going back. He’ll want you to throw it over and over again!” Melodi broke out into a hearty laugh and playfully punched Cypher’s shoulder again.
“You idiot! You really had me worried there for a second! My cat is the same way, only with his treats. He doesn’t really play much fetch.” Melodi turned to face Spark and nodded. She then drew her arm back and threw it as hard as she could, even infusing Zight into the throw to make it more potent.
The bean sailed through the air at high speed and Spark rushed off after it, Yipping happily as he ran. That game of fetch continued on for about an hour, before Melodi was pushing Spark away, and laughing softly, “No Spark, you silly boy, I’m tired, I can’t throw it anymore!”
Cypher chuckled himself and said, “Hey don’t look at me, I gave you fair warning! You’re the one who didn’t listen to me,” the two shared another laugh and Cypher told Spark to ease up and go find his bone.
Spark growled playfully and then nudged Cypher’s face with his head. Cypher pet his faithful companion for a moment and then Spark headed off to find his bone, leaving Cypher and Melodi alone again.
As Cypher watched Spark leave, Melodi began looking at him with a warm softness in her eyes. Cypher didn’t notice, to Melodi’s relief, but the look contained more than simple affection. However, she quickly looked away and up at the stars as Cypher turned back to face her.
“You know, this has been a really nice day Cypher, thank you. I doubt that I would have had as good a tour at the Academy, so really thank you,” Cypher blushed again, and once more rubbed the back of his head.
“Ah, think nothing of it Melodi, I’m just happy you had a good time. I was worried this might be a boring date-…” Cypher stuttered and stopped, mortified that he had misspoken, but he quickly recovered and continued. “Err, I mean, tour and I wanted you to have a good time. I’m glad that you did.”
Melodi looked at him softly again and flashed him a wry smile. “You know, I wouldn’t mind if this were… you know, a date. Maybe we could make this a regular thing? I mean, if you wouldn’t mind.” Cypher’s heart skipped a beat and inside, he was freaking the fuck out.
‘Oh god, it’s happening! What the fuck do I do now? I’ve never had a girlfriend before. Let alone one so pretty! Shit! Fuck! Alright, calm down Cypher, just calm down. Shit! What do I-? Alright look, just say something cool and try not to mess it up yeah? Alright cool. You got this. Deep breath!‘
Cypher took a deep breath and tried to play his anxiety off, “Yeah! Much very would like that I!” he said, and then facepalmed as he realized the mess that had just come out of his mouth. ‘Smooth move dumbass!‘ he thought, but Melodi simply laughed and pushed him over into the grass.
“You don’t have to try so hard you know. I already like you. I have since we first met that day at the tree. Just take it easy alright? We can go slow,” Melodi sheepishly reached for his hand, and Cypher did the same. He took her hand in his and squeezed it tightly. It was warm but also a little clammy, much like his own.
They exchanged an embarrassed look, and then the two spent the next long while just staring at the stars in peaceful silence.
