“Come at me, you big bastard!” Cypher yelled, his voice echoing into the depths of the cave. There was a soft but firm, “click” as he sheathed his saber and raised his hands to begin an arcane assault.
Power flowed from his Orrium to his hands and layers of glowing light began to erupt from his palms as he chanted softly. The seals took form, swirling spheres of soft blue light, almost humming a soft chorus as they pulsed. A midsized bolt of lightning shot forth with a crackle and impacted the smooth, crystal-like geometric core of the creature he had engaged.
The golem let out a low earthy sound, the sound one would expect to hear as two massive boulders were ground against one another. It stood slowly, boulders rising from the back wall to float around its core. The dirt and moss-covered chunk of iron and granite shimmered in the fading light of Cypher’s spell and it let forth a low rumbling groan.
As it took its vague, fumbling form, it threw one of its great arms his way, bits of rubble and dirt crumbling away as it soared through the air.
‘Good… now you’ve got its attention,’ Cypher thought to himself, smiling as he leapt up to the roof of the cave and began running along it, each step leaving behind a faint glow, like ripples in a pond. With a sidestep, he squeezed past the massive boulder with little room to spare. He grunted and jumped down as it crashed near the entrance, firing a couple more streams of lighting as the same words as before fell from his dry lips.
The golem let out another low rumble as the volley of attacks hit their marks and it shuddered before turning to face him. It raised its massive boulder of an arm and brought it crashing down, aiming to leave him a crusty puddle of meat and bone.
Cypher landed on the ground in front of the creature and jumped forward between its legs, narrowly dodging its attack once again, and ran out of the cave. The golem roared again and stomped forward quickly in pursuit.
Bright sunlight obscured Cypher’s vision for a moment as he emerged, followed closely by the Rank-Two creature. If he didn’t open up some room to fight, this job was going to get nasty real fast. The stone beast lumbered out, destroying the entrance to the cave and sending the stone from before crashing into a nearby tree with a grinding roar.
Cypher curled, rolling between its legs again, and jumped up onto its back. He drew his saber, chanting a different spell this time, and slid his hand down the length of its blade. The spell took hold quickly and he drove the weapon down and into the hard stone of the Golem.
It shook violently as Cypher stabbed into the hard stone over and over again. He twisted his saber hard with each strike, and tiny cracks started appearing as the blade drove itself deeper with each blow.
The spell he had cast before and placed around his blade activated and those tiny cracks lit up with yellow light and a high-pitched shearing noise filled the area as more stones exploded out from around the core of the golem.
Enraged and unable to heal its wounds quickly enough, the golem reached back with both of its appendages and tried to crush Cypher beneath them. Cypher took his chance and threw the saber to the ground where it slid into the soft earth halfway up the blade.
He clasped his hands together, Zight flowing through each palm, a chant upon his lips once again. “Duet, Verse 1, Temporal Flux!” He caught the golem’s rocky arms and tapped them lightly with each hand, transferring the spell to its body.
The wild Zightbeast froze, the Time Magick kicking in as Cypher rolled to the ground and pulled his weapon free. He spun quickly to face it, and in one fluid movement drove the enchanted saber deep into the golem’s crystal core just as his short-lived spell faded away.
Cracks quickly raced outwards from where the saber was embedded, and the Golem let out a long, low rumble as they continued spreading throughout its entire body. With a twist of his wrist, the core shattered followed by the rest of the golem, a cloud of dust settling around him as stones un-crumbled fell to the ground, no longer held together with feral magicks.
“You still handle yourself well I see,” came a voice from behind the destroyed tree to his left. Cypher stood and looked in its direction to see Alvin. As was usual during these last few years, he wore his standard outfit, a set of faded grey-blue robes with plates of light armor woven throughout.
Complex designs and runes adorned the faded cloth, bestowing the robes with a random assortment of wards and other magickal protection in the form of a faint, almost invisible glow. He held a playful look as he spoke, and his round-rim glasses hung loosely from the bridge of his nose.
“Thanks, I see you still like to barge in on me when I’m busy, only, I was on to you the entire time. Did you enjoy the show, Alvin?” Cypher responded, slight annoyance in his voice as he brushed the loose rubble and dust from his shoulders and turned back around to face his unwelcome guest.
“You know, seeing you take down that golem really takes me back. It’s been quite a while since Elthanor’s Breach hasn’t it?” Alvin said as he walked towards Cypher, pulling a cloth from within his robes to clean his glasses.
Cypher sighed and nodded, “Yeah it has…” he answered, slight annoyance in his tone. Alvin chuckled and continued, “Your skills have improved quite dramatically despite not finishing your courses at the Academy. Although considering all that you’ve inherited, five years is more than enough time to reach such a level.
“I do have to admit that I’m still impressed at the ground you’ve been able to cover in such a short amount of time,” Alvin chuckled and continued, “You really are your father’s son. I do have to ask though, are you really so bored that you’ve taken to hunting wild Zightbeasts just for the thrill of it?
“It usually takes much longer to reach the peak of the first rank. I imagine that you’re nearing a breakthrough by now, but even considering your vast improvements, is it really wise to fight beings a full rank above you?”
Cypher scoffed as Alvin ranted on, but he still listened as his former master continued, “Seems a bit foolish to me. Although I imagine your Zight reserves are even greater now than they were back then. On that note, do you remember what I said the last time we talked? My offer still stands you know, and I would be more than willing to finance the entire endeavor. You’re still my first choice in this matter Cypher.”
“I told you already,” Cypher sighed, the restlessness already apparent in his tone, “the academy is great and all but it’s not the place for me. You know why I left, and the fallout of that decision was something we were all well aware of. Also, I’m neither a sellsword nor an adventurer, you know that. I don’t have time to waste raiding some ancient ruins for a magickal bauble that’ll convince the Elder Council to let me back in. Besides, you’re the one who wants that thing in the first place.”
“You could just talk to the Elders and convince them yourself if you wanted to. Don’t pretend like it’s some way for me to ingratiate myself to them when you’re the only one who will really gain anything of substance. You know the Guildmaster in Tirna personally, I’m sure she would be more than willing to offer her services… For the right price.”
At this, it was Alvin’s turn to sigh as he placed his glasses back onto the bridge of his nose, “I told you already, there’s no one she has that I trust to help me with this matter. Not even her. You’re the only one with the particular skills I need to pull this off. You’re no sellsword eh? Certainly not licensed by any means, but yet here you are, slaying monsters for the coin of the realm. Flying under the radar like that can’t be very profitable,”
“Aye that may be true,” Cypher responded with a scoff, “but I don’t do this just for the Lumens. I’m doing a job for the village up the road from here. That golem I just put down has been terrorizing this area for about a month now.
“The nobles don’t care about small farming villages in the countryside, not beyond the taxes they so adamantly demand. The small number of merchants who do frequent this area can’t get their goods through, and more than a few of the nearby villagers have met their ends by accidentally waking the damn thing. Things in this part of Dellorim have gotten pretty bad Alvin, the people need help,”
