As Cypher walked up to the castle, he looked up, admiring that scene and remembering how awed he had been as a child. He then noticed the sun as it set behind the mountains in an eerie, yet beautiful twilight that radiated a foreboding feeling.
'An ill omen perhaps? Or just my mind playing tricks on me?' Those were the idle thoughts that ran through his head at that particular moment. But he let them drift to the back of his mind as he continued on.
The grounds seemed a little too quiet with all of the students gone, and as he passed through the courtyard he looked to his left and saw a flock of birds flying off into the distance. They were chirping away as if something of great interest awaited them in the dimming sky beyond.
He once again stopped to take in the ambiance of the area. In the distance, one could see the still snowcapped mountain tops of the Elthanor Mountains, and no matter the season, those peaks were always covered in a thick layer of snow. The air around him was heavy and warm, but soothing as he listened to the sounds of nature around him.
He had calmed down a bit, but that ominous feeling had not quite dissipated. Crickets chirped, bats flew through the air and you could almost feel the eyes of the owls that inhabited the nearby trees staring at you from afar. Aside from the anxious feeling rising in the back of his mind, this was how life was supposed to be. Calm and peaceful, without any cares or worries in the world.
The serenity of that moment, however, was broken as a crow cawed in the distance and Cypher realized he still needed to do what he came here for.
Cypher soon found himself on the fourth floor of the ancient castle, and Alvin's room was just down the hall. Ever since his promotion to the board, he had been granted special quarters within the main castle and Alvin always loved to talk about it during their brief meetings.
Cypher arrived at the door and made to knock, but stopped as something on the ground caught his attention. He bent down and saw that it was Alvin's Ark. He would recognize that thing anywhere since Alvin always had his on full display. The blue gem that represented Alvin's affinity for water was quite striking and even Cypher had to admit that it was beautiful. But what was it doing here on the floor?
His thoughts were interrupted as one of the many suits of armor that lined the halls came crashing down on the floor just below him. With the castle as empty as it was this time of year it was odd that such a ruckus was taking place. Preparing himself for danger, he darted down the steps and around the corner thinking someone might have gotten hurt, only to slam face-first into Alvin.
Both of them fell to the floor and as Cypher looked up to apologize he noticed a blank and expressionless gaze on Alvin's face. His eyes were cloudy and lacked their usual vibrant color and his fading brown and grey hair was frayed and showed nothing of Alvin's usual neatness and order.
His clothes were also ripped and torn in several places on his body as if he had just been in a fight and Cypher could swear he spotted a small drop of blood on his beard. Alarm took hold of him rather quickly. In a situation as strange as this though, he played it close to his chest and acted oblivious to the odd scene before him. "Uh, Alvin, are you okay? You don't look so good. Is there anything I can help you with?" Cypher asked, knowing full well something was very, very wrong with his old mentor.
"Ah, Cypher… do not worry about me. I am okay. Go home you are not needed here now," Alvin said in a monotone voice as he struggled to his feet and stumbled off. This was not Alvin, at least, not the Alvin Cypher knew, and he pretended to leave the stumbling man and head back upstairs.
However, Cypher wasn’t the naive child he once was. He was going to find out what was going on, and so he decided to follow Alvin and see where he was off to in such a state. Allowing for some distance between them would make tailing his former mentor much easier.
Cypher waited until Alvin's footsteps faded into the distance and then started down the hall in pursuit. Cypher was keeping a close eye on Alvin by using his mental energy and staying out of sight. It was a useful trick, one that Glenda had taught him during their training together.
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Normally another Conductor would be able to sense something like that, but Cypher was more than certain that he knew what was going on and the person he was tailing obviously didn't seem to notice, which only seemed to confirm his suspicions.
As they walked, Alvin unknowingly led him into the castle’s central structure, several floors below the entryway. Cypher had never been this deep beneath the castle, but he knew exactly where they were heading. This path led directly to one of the forbidden areas of the Academy that had been outlined in his contract when he had first arrived. The Sanctum.
Alvin had long ago informed him of the dangers of trying to enter this part of the castle. If he were to be caught, he would be expelled without question or warning, and his centers of power sealed forever. That wasn't the worst of it though.
Down this corridor was a large stone that acted as a doorway. Entering the area behind it warranted an immediate execution if you lacked the proper clearance and Alvin, or at least the man pretending to be Alvin arrived right in front of it.
As Cypher drew closer, he could see that it had many ancient runes tattered along the front of it. Some he was familiar with but others he had never even seen before. Alvin raised his hand and placed it upon the giant stone and said in a deep raspy voice, "Asada... Mequraridol, Ometre... Glanth,"
The words sent a shiver down Cypher's spine and in them, Cypher took notice of a strange melody. While those words seemed somewhat familiar he couldn't place where he had heard them before. They gave off a sense of nostalgia, almost like a memory seen through a thick fog that was half-remembered through a dream. The stone door shuddered in response and began to fade, becoming more and more transparent as the seconds passed.
It was still clearly there, but instead of hard stone, it looked more like a wall of shimmering water. Alvin walked through and vanished behind the door, and Cypher quickly followed him for fear of that stone becoming solid once more. Again, Alvin didn't seem to notice.
Cypher looked around while keeping a low profile, but didn't see Alvin anywhere. There was a pathway leading off a few feet and a flickering light shone brightly as if a fire was burning just around the corner. Cypher followed it, crouched low to reduce his noise, and entered another room.
As he looked on, his focus was instantly pulled toward the middle of the room, and his eyes widened. The room had five silver-gold lined altars and was filled with ceremonial candles, but what grabbed his attention the most was the giant circular diagram on the floor.
It was about seventy or eighty feet across and covered in more of the strange runes. It was also divided into five separate rings each with its own unique design. The outer ring featured the runes for the four basic elements, Fire, water, wind, and earth, as well as one symbol he didn't recognize. This ring was connected to the five altars that surrounded it.
The next ring carried a thick wavy line that stretched all the way around the diagram, interrupted only by the edges of the five altars. The next three rings had more of the unknown runes and Cypher struggled to try and understand what they said. His mind went to work quickly as he memorized each one, but in this dim light, it was hard to completely make them all out.
Finally, in the very center was a five-point star that was protruding about two feet out of the ground and appeared to also carry the four symbols of the basic elements all around it. From what he could tell, this was an extremely complex diagram and must obviously be sealing something away.
The room itself wasn't pitch black but it was close to it, the only light coming from what appeared to be the twenty or thirty black candles arranged in a circle around the massive seal and a few torches that hung in sconces on pillars spread throughout the room. Moments passed as he gazed in wonder at the diagram.
Alvin had stopped dead in his tracks and was staring aimlessly at the wall and Cypher quickly took notice of him. It was beyond obvious that his mentor had somehow been possessed by someone else. Getting in here had most likely been the goal but if that was true where was the Conductor responsible for all this?
Curious to see if his mentor was alright, given his injured state, he took a step forward. At seemingly the same time, however, a voice from behind him said, "My, my, what do we have here? A pesky little tagalong sticking his nose in matters that don't concern him?"
Even as Cypher spun around to confront his adversary, he had been lifted into the air and launched further into the room, where he landed with a dull thud in the middle of the seal. The edges of the elevated star dug into his body, but he was mostly okay.
Cypher was closer to Alvin now and he could see that his face was devoid of expression, his eyes dull and lightless. Cypher had been correct in his assumption, and he cursed himself for not taking action sooner.
But as he rose to attack his new opponent he was suddenly lifted into the air once again, and could only flail aimlessly.