The group traveled for another few hundred meters. Every so often there would be another trap lying in wait. Alvin was taking point, leading their group through the corridor since his mental abilities were far greater than everyone else’s.
Despite that, however, these traps were all in the fifth rank. Even Alvin’s abilities only went so far, one couldn’t forget that he was only a rank-three Conductor in the upper-middle tier. Twice, guillotines had fallen from the ceiling and almost killed Alvin, and once a spike pit had opened up right underneath their feet.
At that time, Alvin had already deployed a barrier they could walk on. However, it quickly deteriorated over the spikes below which gave off a corrosive aura similar to the acid from earlier. That trap had almost ended Alex since he was bringing up the rear.
Another time Melodi had almost succumbed to instant death from another floor trap that fired long spears upwards toward the ceiling.
Alvin had used up over half his Zight in order to slow the spear enough for Cypher to save her. Their timing had been perfect, only the sound of the ancient grate that hid the trap sliding open gave them the chance to avoid it.
If this ruin were still brand new, or even a few hundred years younger, the hinge on the grate might not have made any noise at all, and Melodi would have died. Cypher was constantly on guard and was using his mental energy to scan the area as much as he could.
He was luckiest of all since none of the traps seemed to target or threaten him in any way. Still, this place was dangerous beyond reason and they needed to find a way out as quickly as possible. Alvin had explained that the ruins he had explored before always had an entrance and an exit that could only be accessed while leaving and not while entering.
They would be hidden from the outside with powerful magicks, and remain nearly undetectable to people in lower ranks than the hiding spells. That said, they would have to survive long enough to reach that exit.
Given all the traps they had faced so far, it was unlikely they would be able to make it out alive. It seemed like every time they covered some ground, a new deathtrap was waiting to end their exploration.
After another guillotine that had sprung vertically from both sides of the corridor almost killed Alex, he screamed and punched a wall, “You have GOT to be kidding me! How many of these things are there? All of us have almost died except for Cypher so what gives?”
Alvin nodded at Alex’s statement and said, “I’ve been giving that some thought. Why is it that only Cypher has managed to avoid all the traps? At first, I attributed it to luck but now I’m not so sure. I think it might have to do with his affinity.”
Melodi pounded her fist against her palm and exclaimed, “You might be onto something there! Null got us into this place, maybe his element is a sort of password that Null…-ifies all the traps…” She let out a nervous laugh as she finished speaking, and looked down slightly embarrassed.
Alex groaned at her poor joke, and Cypher looked at his group and scratched his head, “So what if it does? How does that help us?” he asked and Alvin moved closer to him, “You two stay here,” he pointed at Alex and Melodi, “I and Cypher will go back to that guillotine, we might as well test this theory.”
Cypher looked appalled and opened his mouth to protest, but Alvin stopped him, “If your element keeps you safe, then there is a way to spread it to all of us. We could avoid all the other traps and get out of here faster!”
“Besides, we already know where that trap is, best to use the one we know of instead of a hidden one,” Cypher didn’t like it but Alvin was right, and he didn’t wanna keep worrying about his companions.
“Fine, but if I get sliced up it’ll be your fault and I’ll come back to haunt you I swear!” said Cypher.
He and Alvin then moved to the guillotine and dashed through quickly. The trap made no move to activate, and Alvin took note of that with a nod. “Alright, try to go through again Cypher, let’s put this question to bed.”
Cypher carefully moved through the trap and held his breath as he dashed forward. Once again the trap made no movement and Alvin stepped forward. At that, the guillotine slammed shut with a loud, “SHING” clipping off the end of his nose but nothing else.
Alvin grimaced in pain and grasped at his bloody nose, quickly healing the small wound. “Well, I think that pretty much says it all. It really is your element that’s protecting you!” Cypher passed back through and helped Alvin cross unharmed, and the two moved back to Alex and Melodi.
“Well, this is easy then, all you have to do is veil us in your elemental aura. I trust you know how to deploy it right?” Asked Alvin and Cypher nodded. The elemental aura was a passive ability that aided in the absorption of Zight into the Orrium. Normally it covered a Conductor’s body at all times in a thin layer of their own element.
It was this veil that also weakened fire spells for water elementals or wind spells for earth elementals, or any combination thereof. It couldn’t be turned off, but one could be veiled in another Conductor’s aura with a special technique.
It didn’t prevent the weakening of spells and was considered a mostly useless technique, but it had a few niche uses, and this apparently was one of them. Cypher had learned it during his solo lessons and had discarded it as not worth his time. Still, he remembered the basics of the technique and deployed it around his entire group.
They all shuddered as they felt his aura encompass them. However, there seemed to be an unforeseen side effect to Cypher’s specific Veil, and Alvin quickly voiced his concern. “I can’t seem to access my water spells! Is this because of your Null element? Are you actively blocking me?” Alvin was in a state of excited awe as he rattled off those questions.
“I’m not doing anything at all other than spreading my aura!” replied Cypher and Alvin nodded, his eyes wide as he took a mental note of that occurrence. Alex and Melodi also noticed they couldn’t use their primary elemental spells.
That was a small price to pay though for getting through this ruin unharmed, and they were all too happy to pay that price. The group moved forward slowly, Cypher in the lead now, and quickly came to another trap. This one was more obvious, as it was a series of pressure plates scattered all over the floor.
Cypher stepped on the first one and got no result. Alvin then stepped on the second one and still, nothing happened. The plan had worked, and now the group was quickly rushing through the rest of the corridor.
They eventually entered a massive chamber shrouded in darkness, and Alvin quickly cast a spell that sent a large white orb of light floating into the center of the room. At the same time, Alvin flipped a switch on the nearest wall that, according to a series of runes scrawled across the bottom of it, disabled all the traps.
Everything suddenly lit up in the white light, and all of them gasped at the same time as the orb settled into place in midair. The orb of magickal light shimmered and then was split as seven copies of that same spell manifested into existence. Alvin was perplexed as he watched his single spell multiply and in another instant, the orbs flew outwards to rest in the palms of seven statues that stood around a central pillar covered in runes.
The light of those orbs intensified and soon the entire room was bathed in white light revealing alabaster stone and marble and granite of various colors beneath the piles of treasure and artifacts. The chamber was massive and even had other rooms that branched off from the main hall. Looking at those statues, it wasn’t hard to guess that these were depictions of the Guardians, but their faces were all hidden by hoods.
Other pillars supported the ceiling and around each of them were more carvings, but unlike the central one in the middle of the statues, these continued up and out of sight. The light also revealed several hundred chests, each brimming with gold and jewels, chalices, and diadems.
Armor lay strewn around everywhere and weapons of various types jutted out from many of the chests. Alvin and the others had already spread out by then and were examining these treasures, but Cypher’s eyes had locked onto the central pillar, as he had noticed a glint of light at the top.
He moved to investigate and stared upwards. It was several meters tall and would require him to jump in order to reach whatever it was that had caught his attention, though, something about it was drawing him towards it.
It was as if it was calling out to him, and while he was able to resist that urge, it only made him more curious. He decided to check it out last though, and he went to look around like the others. Around an hour passed as they rifled through the various items and wealth before Alvin spoke up also taking the time to refill their Orriums with their Arks.
“My word…,” Began Alvin as he stared around at everything, “This must have been a repository for the funds of the war effort back then! No wonder there were so many deadly traps! This discovery is monumental! We need to inform the king of this immediately and get a team of proper archaeologists on this!”
However, as he finished speaking an earthen spike shot through his chest and Alvin fell to one knee. He coughed up blood and clutched at the area with a pained look on his face. “Wh-what?” He muttered and the four of them looked to where the attack had come from.
