Alvin had arrived with two armed guards a few hours after dawn. At first, Cypher had felt a wave of nostalgia. His memories of the many times Alvin had burst into his room brought a smile to his face, but that warm feeling was quickly lost, as Cypher took notice of the two guards.
Alvin didn’t look very pleased himself, and he looked like an absolute mess. Cypher could guess that he hadn’t slept since the incident, and he worried about the mental state of his old mentor. “Good morning Cypher,” Alvin began, a tone of obvious exhaustion in his voice, “I need you to come with me, and if possible please try not to make any sudden moves or do anything stupid.”
Cypher eyed the guards suspiciously, but he had a feeling that something like this would happen. He was prepared for this and decided to listen to Alvin’s words of warning. As such he slipped on his boots and followed Alvin, his battle pressure suppressed as densely as possible.
The guards of course took notice of this and relaxed a bit. If Cypher had planned to attack them, he would need to first raise his battle pressure or his attacks would be worthless against their armor and wards. That wasn’t to say that the guards had completely eased off, but they were less wary of him.
Their group walked back down into the forbidden area that was Sanctum, and upon arriving, Cypher saw a host of different people scattered about the room. Of course, Elder Fergus was still laying in the same spot, his eyes open, and his face contorted in that look of shock and confusion. A trickle of blood even ran down the sides of his mouth where he had hit the hard stone of the floor.
The images from his nightmare the night before flashed in his mind but he ignored them, although he couldn’t do the same with the feeling of dread that accompanied them. The others in the room were mostly unknown to Cypher. He, of course, recognized the headmaster, Sequinnen, as well as the rest of the Elder council save for Elder Itzel. However, everyone else was a mystery to him.
Sequinnen took notice of their arrival and walked over. He saw how Cypher looked down in shock at Elder Fergus and leaned in to whisper in Cypher’s ear, “I would not pity him, he and his sister both deserved their fates for their treachery,”
Cypher looked up at him confused. He didn’t feel any pity for Fergus, but the fact that Itzel had betrayed the Academy as well was a slight surprise. It made sense when you considered that the two of them were related, but she hadn’t seemed the type to do something like this.
Cypher looked up at Sequinnen and asked, “Who are all of these people?”
Sequinnen looked around and gestured to a group nearby, “They are members of the Royal Knights of Dellorim. The big guy there is Rashe Denexus, their leader. He commands the entire army of Dellorim and his authority is only surpassed by the King himself,”
Cypher looked in that direction and saw that Rashe was a rather large man with dark red hair and amber eyes. His silver plate armor shone in the morning sunlight that poured in from the hole in the side of the mountain.
“Those two with him are his lieutenant and vice-lieutenant respectively,” he pointed to a man and a woman standing next to Rashe, “and they are here on behalf of the king,” continued Sequinnen. Cypher could see that they were adorned as lavishly as Rashe was.
“That wormy fellow though is the king’s advisor, Rel,” Sequinnen went on to say, and Cypher could see that he was indeed quite wormy looking. His thin hair was black and slicked back and his limbs were thin and brittle looking. But while his appearance looked pathetic, there was no mistaking the powerful aura that flowed from their entire group.
Each of them was securely within the fourth rank and as such, they were all quite powerful Conductors. “Of course, you are familiar with the Elder Council, or what’s left of it anyway after last night,” finished Sequinnen.
Cypher nodded, but paused as he took notice of another person in the back near the wall he had burst through, “Who is that?” He asked and Sequinnen raised an eyebrow and looked in that direction.
He smiled a moment later and replied, “That, is Elaine Mikorus, and had you remained here you would have met her. I cannot tell you how she is related to all of this, other than to say that she is our top expert in barrier spells. Since you destroyed the one surrounding this area she was summoned to repair it,”
Cypher nodded and faintly remembered her name from his classes. ‘Whoops,’ he thought as he turned back to face the headmaster. “I’m not going to lie to you Cypher, you’re in quite a bit of a situation here. This entire area beneath the castle is forbidden and the normal punishment is not simply expulsion, but death for such a transgression. You have to understand that there are things contained here that can never be released. Things that threaten the safety of the entire world.”
Cypher looked the headmaster in the eyes and nodded, “I know, this guy was trying to do exactly that last night. But somehow I managed to stop him. I’m not quite sure how though, as soon as I began to fall I blacked out and I didn’t come to until I was casting a spell at him.”
“That’s quite a claim young man, but there isn’t any proof to back it up now is there? You say you defeated this former Elder, but as I understand it, he was in the fourth rank. How could a mere human Conductor defeat a Heroic one? Your power is impressive, but you aren’t even in the second rank yet!” Rashe had stepped forward and asked this as he stared harshly at Cypher.
Cypher hadn’t noticed, but his entire conversation with the headmaster had been overheard by everyone in the room. Of course, they had heard though, they were almost all exclusively in the fourth rank. Only Alvin and Elaine were still in the third rank, while he was lingering at the peak of the first.
That said, Cypher could tell that Elaine was nearing the fourth rank and was only a small way off from her breakthrough. “I don’t exactly have much in the way of proof, but how else do you suppose I survived? Also, what about Alvin? He’d be dead right now if it wasn’t for me. I mean no disrespect, but you shouldn’t jump to conclusions about people you don’t know,” Cypher had answered Rashe with a bit more hostility than he had intended.
Rashe obviously took offense to this and gripped the hilt of his Warhammer hanging at his waist. “You little shit! The headmaster may have informed you of my position, but you clearly don’t know who you’re talking to in that way!”
“Peace, Rashe. He meant nothing by it,” interrupted Sequinnen. “If your honor was being questioned wouldn’t you speak in harsh tones just as Cypher has done? Let’s listen to his account of the events and consider the possibilities before we cast judgment,”
Rashe grew red-faced, but it quickly faded as he mulled over Sequinnen’s words and he released his grip on the handle of his weapon. “Now then Cypher, tell us exactly what happened if you don’t mind,” continued Sequinnen.
Cypher carefully explained everything that had happened the night before, and as he finished he pulled out his own Ark, while Alvin did the same. The onlookers all gasped at the sight of completely empty Arks, and even Rashe seemed to be more convinced of Cypher’s claim than before.
“That doesn’t explain how a mere human Conductor defeated a Heroic one. What kind of ridiculous spell would be so powerful that it could drain not one, but two Arks completely? They don’t even show signs of refilling themselves,” Rel asked, his quill moving quickly as he finished transcribing Cypher’s account.
“That is quite the conundrum, but I believe Elaine over there can explain it to your satisfaction,” replied Sequinnen, and the entire room turned to stare at her.
“How is it that you’re all Rank-Four Conductors but haven’t heard of Ark Fusion before?” scoffed Elaine in an incredulous tone.
“Ark Fusion? What nonsense is this Sequinnen? I thought she had some answers!” Rel looked at Sequinnen with an angry glare, but the headmaster only smiled and held out his hands to his sides.
“Elaine knows what she’s talking about. In fact, she’s the only one alive right now who knows anything about such a technique. She used to be a part of Fenix’s team unless you’ve already forgotten about that of course,”
The room went silent, and everyone including Cypher turned to face Elaine once again, each with a different expression spread across their faces.
“You used to work with my Father?”
