Symphonic Odyssey
: Vol. Three: Dark Sarcophagus: Verse One-Hundred and Forty-Two

Cypher and Alex were once again unable to gather many details from their interrogation of the Wild Conductor. The subordinates of Zealot’s Ring were strong-willed and refused to share their secrets willingly. Delvin had been an exception, but it seemed as though he wasn’t a true member of their ranks.

The two tried to pry into the mind of the Wild Conductor, just as they had with the first bandit. However, the moment they did, they were both ejected backward onto the ground. At that moment the Wild Conductor pulled out a pill and swallowed it, which shattered his mental space and killed him instantly.

They wouldn’t be learning anything else from him, but Cypher was regretful it had ended that way. Once again he had been bested. He had to do better in the future.

After that, it was only a matter of making sure the Villagers were safe and would be able to replace refuge in Seven City for a little while. That task was easy enough and the next day, after resting and recovering their strength, Cypher and Alex were ready to head toward the location known as Finn’s Deep.

It was nearby and it wouldn’t take them long to reach it. They had already been walking for two hours. As they walked through the countryside, Cypher considered his issue of personal power, and after some time, voiced his concerns to Alex. “What do you think of my power? Am I deserving of it? Have I earned it?”

Alex looked surprised by the sudden questions and went into deep thought before answering, “Well, it’s not that you don’t deserve it exactly. We all deserve enough power to forge our own paths through life. But, uh, in your case…” Alex paused again. This was clearly difficult to answer, but Cypher wanted an honest reply and gave his friend time to think.

“Have you earned your power? I dunno. Partly, I guess? You’ve trained to use it properly, and you’ve worked to hone it into something more than you started with. I would say that having an element like that is sorta cheating, but you didn’t get to choose, so I can’t hold that against you.

“We all make do with what we have. You’ve been through a lot in your life, I can tell that much. You were gifted with some incredible things without question, but I like to think you’ve earned them so far. You lost not only your mother but your father as well. You didn’t get to choose what your childhood was like and that is hard enough. But to top it all off, you had to put up with being the punching bag of some shitty noble family despite everything else.” Alex paused again and sighed.

“I would just say this: Going forward, work on using the gifts you’ve been given to increase your own power. It would be a waste to squander such gifts. Conductors all over the world would, and have killed for even portions of what you were just given. Even I replace that I’m jealous of you in that respect.”

Cypher nodded and sighed, “But how do I separate my own gains from the gifts I’ve been given? How can I call it my own power if I’m using such incredible boosts? I went from having nothing to having pretty much anything I want like I’m some kind of chosen one or some other fairy tale bullshit. The only downside is that I’m being hunted down by some crazy cult.”

Alex laughed and patted Cypher’s shoulder, “If that is the only downside, I’d be grateful as fuck Cyph’. Don’t the main characters always have a happy ending? In any event, don’t try and rationalize it that way. Just use the tools you’ve been given and become something more than they can offer. That’s all I can say about that buddy. Now, enough of this depressing shit. Aren’t we about to head into a slaughter?” Alex said, a smile creeping across his face.

Cypher couldn’t help but be infected by his cheery personality and he soon put his concerns to the back of his mind. The two talked about ways to infiltrate and handle whatever enemies might cross their path and explained some of their abilities to each other to help in their coordination efforts during battle.

The Saber and Scal’tar were completely different fighting styles for sure, but surprisingly, they could work in tandem quite well. When coupled with the powerful spells each of them had, they were essentially a two-man army when put against enemies like this.

The Wild Conductors would be a bit of a problem. But if they didn’t have to face them all at the same time, the two of them should be able to handle them easily enough. Of course, Cypher warned Alex about their strange spells and how the Wild Conductor who had killed himself had almost disintegrated Cypher with a single touch.

They would have to be extra careful to avoid getting hit by such spells. They also theorized about the level that spells like that were effective against. The spell had killed a rank-two Wild Conductor in a single blow, but what about a rank-three? A rank-four? Surely it wasn’t a spell of such great power that it was an instakill for ranks above the caster.

However, with incomplete information, and no details on how the spell worked they could never know the answer to that.

A large structure soon appeared in the distance. From here even they could see that it was the half-buried remains of a great temple of some kind. No doubt it had already been plundered by Conductors from the Kingdom, and so they didn’t expect to replace many valuables inside. That said, they weren’t even here for that.

To say that this mission was solely for the “good guy” points would be incorrect. Sure, they wanted to dole out some justice against these thugs, but the true reward was the real-world experience they would gain from this life-or-death mission. If they failed, they would die. Simple as that.

However, if they succeeded, they would only become more powerful as a result. Even Cypher was fully prepared to die in this place. Did he have a mission of his own? Sure. Finding his mother was important, and so was stopping the Order of Eternal Night. But even then, he couldn’t avoid dangerous situations like this.

If he did, how would he ever gain enough power to stand against that cult? For that reason, he had to temper himself against opponents that could really kill him. Being a Conductor wasn’t all about reading ancient tomes and learning new spells. Those spells needed to be put to the test and refined into something more personal.

The two crouched low and approached the entrance. Obviously, it should be well guarded, and so the two had used as much stealth as possible to remain undetected. Yet they saw no one and heard nothing. They had moved behind a collapsed obelisk and were scoping out the area when a sudden sense of danger engulfed both of their minds.

BOOM!!

A massive fist suddenly collided with the ground just beneath them, and a cloud of dust shot into the air obscuring the view and sending shards of stone clattering everywhere.