A body flew through through the air creating a whistling noise. Like a falling meteor, Cypher collided with one of the small Wood cabins littering the courtyard.
With a crash, splinters and and fragments of the building shot out in a chaotic patter.
Cypher didn't stop their, instead, overshooting the now deformed and damaged cabin and feeling his body hit the cold hard ground and roll a few meters ahead. The aftermath left thick ash to lick up from the ground it once rested peacefully against and form a small cloud around him, lowering the field of vision as it swirled and danced in the wind.
The sudden stillness finally gave a small moment of respite as the colours around him swirled in a dizzying motion. The throbbing walls of Cyphers rocked skull thrummed with a tightness and discomfort akin to a shell shocked soldier. His lungs heaved with effort, desperately raking in more oxygen to support the sudden flight he had been forced to undergo.
Ever unchanging, the golden horizon dyed orange in the moons luminance shifted and changed shapelessy while hisind worked to recover from the heavy blow to his head.
"Now...now's my chance," Like an injured animal struck by a heavy truck, he attempted to stand with trembling, swaying legs. Only once he was halfway off the ground did they give in, causing him to fall onto his knees due to a sudden, protruding and painful sensation in his shoulder.
A prickling, biting feelings flowed through Cyphers nerves as he raised his small, shaking hand up, slowly touching a rough, sharp object resting in his shoulder.
On further inspection, it appeared to be a wooden slinter he had unknowing crossed paths with. It's size equaled that of a young toddlers forearm, embedding itself into his bone.
With a soft grunt, Cypher latched his fingers around the splinter and ,with a clenched jaw, pulled it out. Blood leaked from the wound it left behind, trailing down his skin and spreading across the white ragged robes until he tore off a peice of its cloth and wrapped a small bandage around it, tying the knot with his teeth.
'I can't waste anymore time. From the healing factor this 'Elie' showed, it won't be long before he's back'
Behind Cypher, the creaking groans of the cabin he had been launched through finally gave in - collapsing and kicking up even more ash from the floor.
Across the courtyard, one could easily hear the loud shouts and curses unbecoming of the noble sounding voice it came from. The source was from inside the imposing tower gatehouse scarred with a hole in its highest floor wall.
Knowing it was his time to act Cypher stood up again, this time with success, and slowly felt his body movements becoming more natural. Even so, his bones still heavy as he took small steps forward.
His sight set upon the mountain cave entrance at the far side of the courtyard. It's entrance sorrounded by jagged stone rock that extended far past the castle to form the ancient mountain that contained the dragon core. With it's shadow casting over the land and wind flowing chaotically around it's domain - he moved closer and closer to the flickering glow inside it's opening.
Fluttering white, Cypher's ghostly torn robe and gray, long hair wavedike a flag the closer he got.
It's warm?
A gentle, comfortable heat wafted through the mountains entrance the closer he got. It wasn't a natural warmth but instead, more like it spread through his skin and cells with real tangible energy.
If he wasn't being chased, he would have liked to stay here for a while - possibly even sleep peacefully through the night? Imagining the feeling of waking up and being too comfortable to get up made Cyphers heart peaceful for a moment.
That wonderful possibility ofcourse would never come to pass, for within the gatehouse, through the hole in the top floor wall, a silhouette soon glared at Cypher who was now passing into the cave entrance with haste. The lonely, solitary figure of Elie looked worse for wear. Mainly, his once perfect face had two streaks of crimson running down his cheeks originating from his eyes.
By far, this was the most humiliating event to have ever happened to someone like him. To have been caught off guard by a lower ranked weaver? This was a disgusting stain on his record and on the Trent families history.
The way he had been humiliated was, as much as he hated to think about it , actually a benefit for any future fights. Elie's technique allowed him too rapidly heal any wound that wasn't a direct kill. In other words, unless he lost his head or his heart stopped, he would not die. This ability had only grown more potential with the increase to caliber three to the point where he genuinely believed that he could be immortal given enough time to increase his rank.
To train, he had rigourously worked to increase his pain tolerance through inflicting harm to every area of his body. This had only improved with numerous fights against other weavers, However, despite this he had never actually applied this training method to his eyes. As a result, he felt all the pain and average man would feel when sand grains tore the small pair of organs alive.
'I made a mistake, but, one that will not happen again...'
One foot hung over the edge of the hole in the gatehouse. The drop was rather substantial - being enough to kill any normal man. Fortunately, a Dreamweaver wouldn't be so valuable if they were 'normal.
With a step, his body descended to the ground with a thud. The ground he landed on cracked and fragmented along with the kicked up ash.
"KID! DONT MAKE THIS DIFFICULT!" he shouted towards the caves entrance, only to recieve no response.
Cypher had already entered the mountain, leaving him behind.
Fine!
Elie lifted his foot and flickered thought he fortress, following his targets path
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'What's with this place?'
Cypher sprinted through a winding narrow tunnel. What he had thought to be an ordinary cave system was the exact opposite.
An otherworldly energy seemed to permiate the very walls with warmth at every inch the boy travelled. The sheer vitality he felt was almost like a drug or stimulant that beckoned him deeper.
The mossy curved stone had a pulsed with colourful veins of light. They traced the walls in every spectrum of light creating a dreamlike colidiscope. Some veins were thin and connected like a spidersweb while other lay thick lying embedded in the stone. Occasionally, these veins would dim before, like a heartbeat, return to full brightness in synced.
Cypher didn't know what to think. This was too alien for him to grasp.
His foot stepped on one of these veins accidentally. Even though he braced himself for something to happen, nothing did. Instead, his foot simply felt itself pass through a liquid like substance before pulling straight out. The area he had stepped on looked untouched, as if he hadn't even disturbed it.
Soon, as his sprinting grinded to a halt, he reached the end of the narrow cave pathway towards a tunnel exit lit up brightly.
Walking up to this new area, Cypher was forced to take a breath.
"How? How can a place like this even exit?"
He found himself inside a massive, cavernous area, though to him it felt more like another planet entirely.