Symphonic Odyssey
: Vol. Two: Beneath the Hawthorn Tree: Verse Ninety-Six

Cypher fled through the trees, not bothering to avoid the branches and thornbushes that stood in his way. He had no doubt that this Conductor would catch up to him. The difference between the first and the third ranks was simply too vast already, and he couldn’t even call himself a Rank-one Conductor yet.

The man casually followed behind him a few dozen feet. Every few moments, Cypher would hear the ominous sounds of a spell coming his way and would dodge the incoming attack. Each time, the spells would singe a part of his armor, as Cypher was unable to move out of the way in time at such a close distance.

He racked his brain in an attempt to replace a way to come out of this situation on top, but no matter how hard he thought, or what strategies he could think to employ, they all ended with the same result: Failure. Had Alvin or Glenda been with him he would have had more options, but he had no clue where they were or even if they were still alive. He would have to get out of this on his own.

He was tempted to cast a few spells of his own, but with his Zight reserves already below maximum, he didn’t dare to waste the precious energy on foolish attempts. His only chance was to somehow catch the man off guard and blast him with every ounce of Zight he had in his body.

Cypher didn’t quite know how powerful this Conductor was, but he could gauge that he was definitely in the third rank, though at the bottom or at the peak he wasn’t sure, and that distinction would make all the difference.

During their training to master his power, Alvin had said that if he cast in duplicate at the third rank only the strongest of rank-three Conductors would be able to survive. If this man was at the peak of the third rank, Cypher’s attack would likely only cripple him, though Cypher himself would be left unconscious afterward.

Was that a gamble he was willing to take though? Actually, it didn’t matter. Right now Cypher had nowhere near enough Zight to be able to cast a spell that powerful. Even as he ran, he was trying to refill his Orrium as fast as he could with his Ark. However, trying to use his Ark while running was extremely difficult. His Zight was slowly increasing but it was at a terribly slow rate, it was only slightly better than the passive absorption his Orrium was capable of.

This wouldn’t work unless he ran for a few hours, and he was quite sure that this man wouldn’t chase him that long. Already the man’s attacks were becoming more accurate, one even caught the side of his pack, shredding the lining and causing the dimensional pocket to fail. Items tumbled to the ground but Cypher had no time to worry about that now.

“Come now boy, you can’t run forever! Although, I will admit that this little game of cat and mouse is quite amusing. How long can you keep it up? Entertain me! Show me what you can do! Otherwise, I’ll grow bored and be forced to take off one of your arms!” shouted the man behind him.

Cypher knew he couldn’t avoid this clash, he was completely outclassed. However, an idea had just come to him. It was desperate and risky and if it didn’t work he was completely screwed. He stopped and lowered his arms to his sides. He tossed his torn and destroyed pack to the ground and drew his sword, “You wanna see what I can do? Fine. I’ll show you then!” Cypher looked at the man who had come to a stop a dozen feet away. He had to buy some time to work out the details of this idea of his.

Glenda hadn’t mentioned anything about it, and neither had Alvin. In fact, in all his studies it hadn’t been mentioned even once. He worried that it wouldn’t even work but he had to try something or he would be captured and he didn’t want to imagine what would happen if the Order got their hands on him. He simply knew too little about their goals.

“Ah, so you’re going to try and fight me, are you? You seem quite skilled no? Shouldn’t you be able to tell how much stronger I am than you? If I were you, I would lay down that sword and come quietly. My master would be much happier if I brought you to him in one piece. Still, I suppose our healers could put you back together if they tried hard enough,” the man shot Cypher an evil sneer and placed his hands on his hips again.

Cypher ignored him and continued to focus on his task. His Orrium was only a quarter away from being full, so he carefully decided how much of his physical energy this little technique would require. Too little and his plan would fail, he wouldn’t have time to try again. Too much and his Orrium would burst. It had to be just enough, and that was the tricky part.

The man went from a confident smirk to an impatient scowl and he raised his voice, “Well, are you just going to stand there? Or are you going to make a move?” Again Cypher ignored him, but now he was nearly ready.

When converting Zight into physical energy, one would pump it through their Zight Stanza and once inside, after a bit of focus, the Zight could be converted into physical energy to be used for attacks. Just as Glenda had said, the conversion rate was absolutely shitty.

That didn’t have to do with any energy being lost though, it was more the fact that Zight was less dense than physical energy. If one wanted to say, lift an apple with only converted Zight, it would be equal to using four times as much physical energy to do so.

But in Cypher’s wild idea, what if he could instead convert his physical energy into Zight? Theoretically speaking, if he used the energy in his cells it could be converted into Zight which would then surge towards his Orrium to be used for spells. All he would have to do is use his mental energy to draw out the physical energy from his cells, and then run it in the opposite direction along his Zight Stanza while mixing it with the ambient Zight that his body normally absorbed.

He had been worried that it wouldn’t work but as he went to make his move, he was pleased to replace that his theory had been correct. He felt his sword arm grow heavy, and his legs wobbled as his physical energy was swept along his Zight Stanza and instantly converted into Zight.

He felt his Orrium filling up rapidly and by his estimate, his calculations on how much physical energy he would need had been correct, only his mental energy suffered a massive drop in its reserves.

Cypher’s skin grew clammy and his Orrium was not only full but overflowing with power. Its walls shuddered and he felt like the organ would burst, but still, he took a deep breath and ran forward.

Eight feet. “Trio…” The man flashed a wicked smile once again and pulled out a curved dagger.

Four feet. “Verse two…” Cypher swung his sword in front of him and hid his right hand behind his back as if to strike, and the man reared back his own weapon to do the same.

One foot. “CRACKLE OF LIGHTNING BOLT!!” Cypher roared in pain and fury as he dropped to his knees, barely ducking under the swipe of the man in front of him. He threw his sword aside and brought his hands up directly against the man’s torso. Cypher’s spell erupted from his palms and into the body of the shocked man in front of him.

‘BZZZT! KZZZT! BZZZT!!’

Streaks of blinding lighting spread out all around them, and two massive bolts of energy arced up and crashed down upon the man hitting each of his shoulders. The man roared in pain, and blood suddenly shot out of every orifice that Cypher could see, which quickly dried and fell away in black flakes.

The man was completely stunned by the attack and his fingertips exploded off in a rain of blood and flesh, his dark robes and hair caught fire and his entire body began to spasm. Cypher shuddered as the energy drained out of his Orrium and to his surprise it stopped with just enough Zight left to keep him conscious.

Cypher, however, was drained and he fell back onto his backside. The man was smoldering and patches of his skin were charred black and falling away, but to Cypher’s horror, he looked down at him and smiled.

“N-not good enough…”

Cypher felt a pit form in his stomach as the fear set in. His limbs froze as his mind scrambled to come up with anything that could get him out of this situation. Despite his racing thoughts, he couldn’t come up with anything. He had used everything at his disposal just to inflict what damage he had and it hadn’t been enough to stop the man who stood before him.

The man offered a twisted smile and cocked his head to the side as he stepped forward. Cypher moved to flee hoping that in the state this guy was in he wouldn’t be able to catch him. But just then, a brown line appeared down the entirety of the man’s body, and his eyes opened wide in shock before the two halves split apart and fell to the ground in a splatter of gore.