Alvin and the Order member continued their fight as Cypher struggled to his feet. The pain was gone, but now his legs were numb. His Orrium was still empty as well and he proceeded to channel some of his physical energy back into his Orrium, which filled it up about halfway.
He was on track to refilling his Orrium, when his entire Zight Stanza suddenly sent a wave of pain throughout his body. It felt like he was on fire, and he collapsed to his knees despite Alex supporting him.
Through the pain, he thought about it and realized that in his haste to get the crystal containing Elise, he had overtaxed his Zight Stanza. It wasn’t permanent damage as far as he could tell, but if he had done any more than retrieve the crystal, he might have ruptured it.
He was thankful he had managed to accomplish what he set out to do, but the cost had been high. For now, he didn’t have to fight, that was Alvin’s job at the moment. He looked on and saw them clash with one another. He had never pegged Alvin as a Chainblade user, but it made more sense when one considered his element.
The Chainblade was a flowing weapon, easily manipulated, able to take on several forms, and capable of unparalleled fluidity, much like water. However, it was clear that his opponent was an Earth Conductor, and that would prove challenging for Alvin.
Water was strong against Fire, that much was obvious, they were natural opposites. If the soul trapper had been of the fire element this fight would already be over. But against Earth, Water had no inherent advantage or disadvantage. Earth was weak against Wind, but when faced with Fire it also had no advantages or disadvantages.
The problem was made more difficult because while both of them had various elemental spells at their disposal, they each only used their natural affinity to fight. They were both quite skilled and knew full well that they essentially canceled each other out. This would make their fight as even as possible.
The fighting of the two Rank-three Conductors was raging harder now, and parts of the chamber were beginning to collapse around them. Several chests were crushed and many gold coins were scattered everywhere, some of which clinked off of the pillars nearby. The trio of young Conductors moved further away from the fighting and reached the central pillar between the statues of the Guardians.
Alvin and his opponent clashed again. At the moment, Alvin was sloshing a wall of water at an earth wall the soul trapper had summoned in response. As far away as they were, the three youngsters still got drenched in water and flecks of mud.
Alvin summoned up another mass of water and froze it before launching it towards the remains of the earth wall. The soul trapper allowed that ice spear to penetrate his defenses, and he shot around the side of it to engage Alvin directly. Earthen claws wrapped around his hands and he swiped at Alvin, who dodged one hand and blocked the other with his collapsed Chainblade.
Alvin retaliated with a wave of water bullets that turned into icy projectiles and flung them at the claws as they came in for a second swipe. They crumbled away and even managed to dig into the soul trapper’s flesh. Alvin, however, took damage of his own, as shards of rock buried themselves into his thighs and torso.
Both of them broke apart again and stared each other down. After a few seconds, the entire room shuddered as they began chanting lengthy spells. Alvin was conjuring up another mass of water, which was taking the shape of some kind of aquatic, eel-like Zight-beast. The Order member was doing the same with his earth and forging what was clearly a bull-type Zightbeast of some kind.
Cypher looked on and was confused about this whole fight. Alvin was giving it his all, but the Order member was only defending or mimicking Alvin’s spells as best he could. What was the endgame?
“Cyph’ what is going on? Who is that guy and why is he trying to kill Professor Lardok?” Asked Alex, and Cypher sighed.
“I guess I can’t keep this a secret since our lives are at risk, that man is a member of something called the Order of Eternal Night. I don’t know what their goals are exactly, but I do know they’re after me. That’s why I left the Academy, they’ll stop at nothing to get their hands on me, they even took out an entire town just because they heard I was there.”
“That guy in particular though killed Alvin’s sister, and this,” Cypher held up the crystal, “contains her soul. That guy used Retvial magick on her and ever since Alvin has held a grudge against him,” Cypher winced as the pain in his body washed over him again.
“So that’s why you did this to yourself? I guess I can understand that but why is he here now?” Replied Alex and Cypher shook his head before answering.
“I’m not entirely sure, but I think it has something to do with this place. He killed Alvin’s sister to get ahold of an artifact that held this location. He must be after something in here but I have no idea what that could be,”
Melodi began to heal Cypher with a spell after noticing how much pain he seemed to be in, and Cypher let out a sigh of relief. “Thanks, Melodi, I appreciate it,” he said as he slumped against the pillar and leaned his head back. At that moment he saw the twinkle of light atop it again and his eyes widened in realization.
Whatever that was, it was in a prominent place in this treasury, and Cypher needed to get it before the soul trapper either noticed it or took it for himself. At that moment, however, two more Order members rushed in from the entrance across the massive room and their eyes locked right on the three young Conductors.
They were only at the first rank, but they were heavily armed. One carried a massive shield, and a lance twice the length of his body. The other wore a flowing black cloak and had several puppets made of wood that hovered around him. Each puppet bore a different weapon and a single glowing string was attached to each one.
Cypher struggled to his feet and rolled his shoulders, “You guys think you can handle them?” he asked and the two looked at him questioningly.
“I’m not sure, but we should be able to hold them off for a little while. I’ll handle the guy with the big-ass shield,” replied Alex.
“Guess that leaves the guy with the puppets to me then,” replied Melodi, “but what are you going to do Cypher? Wouldn’t it be better to face them together? It’s three against two,” she continued.
Cypher shook his head and said, “I would, but there’s something I have to do real quick and it might be important,” Cypher said, as Alvin and the soul trapper slammed against opposite ends of the room.
“Before you go, you might want some help against those puppets,” Cypher pulled out an orb and whispered softly into it, “Protect her Spark, don’t let that Order member get the better of both of you alright?” He then held out the orb and a beam of light shot out of it, which quickly materialized into Spark.
The Ceraunus roared as it regained its freedom, and Cypher patted its side. “This is a good friend of mine named Spark, so take care of him will you? He can understand you so if you have a plan let him know. He won’t hurt you unless you attack him so try not to nick him with an attack,” Melodi looked worried about this strange Zightbeast but nodded and readied herself.
The two new Order members began to rush towards the young Conductors, and Melodi and Alex quickly took up their arms. Melodi pulled forth a compound bow, and a quiver of arrows from within her dimensional pocket, while Alex pulled out a well-made Scal’tar from within his. The two leaped at their opponents, wards forming around their bodies as they entered the fray, with Spark following Melodi.
Cypher slipped behind the pillar and looked up at the top. He wouldn’t be able to reach it easily without a little help from his Zight Stanza, but using that right now could possibly damage it further. Still, he had to do something.
He pulled a rope from within his dimensional pocket and flung it around the pillar, he then wrapped each end around his hands and secured his grip. Using the rope as an anchor he hopped up and pressed his legs against the pillar and began the slow climb to the top. He didn’t regret overtaxing his Zight Stanza, but because of that, this would be much harder than simply jumping.
