Cypher quickly descended the ladder leading deep into the earth. The walls around him changed from the stone of the statue’s base to layered bricks made of a material Cypher didn’t recognize. Lights also began to shine from below and as Cypher stepped off the ladder, he saw that several torches had been lit and led down a corridor.
He followed it and arrived at an ornate set of double doors. A family crest was etched into the door and featured a silhouette of that strange Zightbeast from the statue outside. Cypher once again wondered about that being and placed his hand on the door and pushed it open slowly.
The room was dark as he walked inside, but magical lanterns quickly lit up the interior, and Cypher was greeted by a familiar sight. The room he was standing in perfectly mirrored the one that had appeared in his Athenaeum and Cypher could just barely sense the extremely faint traces of Serenade’s energy.
Her lingering presence felt like a long-forgotten memory, a fog that was slowly being swept away into nothing on a summer breeze. To have lasted this long meant that either she was extremely powerful, or that this place was somehow closed off from the outer world.
Conductors left behind traces of their energies wherever they went. It was an unavoidable consequence of refining one’s Zight, but those traces would quickly dissipate into the environment and never lasted very long because of the natural Zight that filled the air.
Cypher was unable to generate such traces since he hadn’t advanced his Orrium yet, but once he reached the solid stage, he too would begin to leave behind subtle traces of his essence wherever he went. That said, the fact that he could still feel his mother indicated that his earlier assumptions had to be true.
However, a third option suddenly popped into his mind, what if she had been here recently? He couldn’t ignore the possibility, but there wasn’t much he could do about it right now. “Mother?” he called out. But he was only met with silence as the moments ticked by. It seemed that at the moment she wasn’t here and sitting around waiting for her would do no good.
Right now he had the entire home to explore. His parents had lived here, laughed here, and probably even conceived him here in this home. His home. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. The air was a bit stale, but it was crisp and cool as it entered his lungs and several distinct scents filled the air.
One was sweet, gentle, and reminded him of blooming flowers and chilly spring mornings. This scent he knew, it had filled his nose when he had embraced his mother inside his Athenaeum and he couldn’t forget it even if he tried.
The other scent, however, was strong and musky. It reminded him of hot summer days with the sun at its peak high in the sky. It was much fainter than Serenade’s, but Cypher could immediately guess that it belonged to his father and he memorized this scent as well.
Sudden longing for his parents consumed him for a moment, and as he opened his eyes he let out a heavy sigh. He had never known them, but somehow he missed them, and it felt like a cruel joke that he was standing here now where they had once lived and loved. He imagined that both of them were sitting on the couch just waiting for him to come and join them in front of the fire.
He shook the feeling off though after a moment and looked around the room, he had more important things to do than daydream about things that could never be. He noticed that everything was in pristine condition. Not a single mote of dust covered anything and if he didn’t know any better he would assume that this place had been lived in very recently.
He walked around the room, dragging his hand along the back of the couch, and headed over to a window covered by curtains. He opened them and a gasp escaped his lips. Through the window, he could see only darkness.
It wasn’t as though he had expected to see anything. He was underground after all, and at most he would only see the cavern this place was hidden away in. However, instead of the damp dark walls of some cave, he saw only a blank void. It was all-encompassing and gave him chills as he stared at it.
He opened the window and a gust of air shot past him and was sucked out and he found it impossible to breathe with his head beyond the boundaries of the window. He braced his arms on the window sill and pulled himself back inside, quickly shutting the window.
He was astounded. He wasn’t entirely sure, but as far as he could tell, the house he stood inside was contained inside some kind of pocket dimension. Alvin had taught him how to use the Deep pockets spell and the previous moment had lined up with what he had learned about such dimensions.
They contained no light, air, or atmosphere, and depending on their size, they could hold any number of items and keep them in perfect condition for vast periods of time. If his assumption was correct, then his parents had done the same thing with their entire house and Cypher wondered if he had been carrying around this place inside that gem the whole time.
He left those thoughts behind and continued to pace around the living room. He made his way to a desk against the back wall. In his Athenaeum his mother had been sitting here writing something and to his surprise, he found that the quill she had been using was lying next to a scroll. He unrolled the scroll first and began hastily reading.
“If you’re reading this Cypher, then I have been gone for quite a long time. I can’t tell you where I’m going, but trust me when I say that you will eventually find me. I have seen it for myself, and when we do meet face to face at long last, a lot of things will become clear to you.
“I hate that I’m limited in how much information I can convey to you. First, it was our short time together in your Athenaeum, and now it’s here in this scroll. If I had the time I would write you several volumes worth of things I’d love to say to you, but for now, this will have to do I’m quite pressed for time despite my ability to swim freely through its currents.
“As you may have guessed, this house rests inside a pocket dimension so be careful if you decide to open any windows or if you somehow damage the walls. The air will be replaced eventually but it takes time and if you deplete it all you’ll have to leave for a while or you’ll suffocate.”
‘Oh now she tells me’ he thought as he kept reading.
“I know you’ve come a long way and you’re eager to receive your inheritance, but you can stop waiting because you already have. This house contains many rooms with various uses and all of it is your inheritance. Your father and I have consolidated all of the resources we gathered during our lives into this home and now, they all belong to you.”
