Cypher and Alex let out grunts of confusion as they watched another bolt of energy streak out harmlessly towards the sky, the main body of the spell still surging through the burning hay, although it was considerably dimmer now. This was strange, it wasn’t supposed to be acting this way.

Cypher had made sure to set the parameters of his spell perfectly. Given how clearly the information was outlined inside his Athenaeum it shouldn’t be acting this way. With ‘duet’ he had cast it at rank two, and he had increased its power three times over by invoking ‘verse 3’ but why was the spell still lingering?

Cypher was confused as he watched the lightning surge through the target. He had planned for the spell to completely destroy the target, ideally in an explosion of light and theatrics that would surprise, awe, and thrill everyone watching. But with the energy surging so randomly it wasn’t hard to see that something had gone wrong. In fact, the streak of lightning that had shot off into the sky was strange too.

Cypher bit his lip anxiously as he dove into his Athenaeum for answers. He quickly ran over the parameters of the spell and his eyes widened as he quickly discovered the issue. Spellcasting was fairly straightforward. One had to first decide on a level of power the spell would be cast at. The ranks of that power matched the ranking system of Conductors for simplicity and were quantified by terms like ‘solo’ or ‘duet’ and so on. He hadn’t messed up in that regard.

The last step involved the characteristics or descriptors of the spell, and those involved manipulating the laws of the world on a fundamental level. All of that knowledge was contained in the lines of the diagram and is what made it so difficult to learn them in the first place.

However, Cypher quickly realized where he had gone wrong. The second step of the three was deciding if the spell would be enhanced, and ‘Verses’ were used to measure that particular variable. The problem was that ‘Verses’ had a dual function in spell casting. They could certainly be used to enhance a spell to greater heights, but where Cypher had made a critical error was in the fact that they could also be used to cast spells multiple times in quick succession.

Instead of boosting the final power of the spell he had accidentally cast it multiple times. Three times in fact.

The first had struck the target as intended. The second had fired off harmlessly into the sky. But the third…

As Cypher realized his mistake, it appeared that the spell was beginning to fizzle out as its energy was consumed. However, before it faded away into nothing, the energy reached a new peak as another bolt shot out at high speed toward Cypher and Alex. Before either of them could react, the bolt of lightning crashed against the blade of Alex's Scal'tar.

In an instant, the metal of the weapon grew white-hot, and the guarding spell that was still lingering upon it vanished in a green ring of mist. The staff itself was made of wood, it shouldn't have been able to conduct electricity very well. However, instead of simply dissipating or causing the wood to burst into flames from the heat, the energy shot into Alex.

His face was locked in an expression of pain and confusion, and all Cypher could do was let out a yell of panic as he kicked the staff out of Alex's hands. The boy fell to the ground and smoke rose from his unconscious form.

The staff continued to shudder against the ground as energy coursed through it, some of the bolts streaking off in short bursts into the earth. After a moment its blade melted, and the wood cracked apart and finally caught on fire. Cypher looked on, horrified that such a large amount of energy was still coursing through the weapon.

Alex had only been exposed to it for a second or two before he had reacted, but it looked like he had still taken a lot of damage all the same.

"SOMEBODY HELP!" Cypher screamed as he rushed to his friend's side and listened for a heartbeat. Alex lay in the dirt, still and unmoving, his eyes blank and staring at nothing. A line of already-dried blood ran down his nose and mouth. Even the roof of his mouth looked like it had been charred black.

The other students who still remained gathered around and stood with horrified looks on their faces. Those who saw what had happened were sympathetic, however, the others were whispering amongst themselves and could only speculate about what happened.

Cypher continued to listen, trying to ignore the hushed voices all around him. The silence he heard from Alex's chest froze him over with fear and as the seconds ticked by, a crushing panic consumed him.

Cypher's thoughts turned to the worst outcome of this situation. 'My friend is dead, and I... I'm to blame! What will happen to me? Will I be executed? Will I be expelled from the academy? Alex… No… no… no… What should I do?'

These thoughts and more ran through his mind. However, after those few moments of panic, Cypher finally heard the dull, "THUNK" of a heartbeat. He waited another few moments, the silence filling him with dread as each second passed, but then he heard two more faint beats.

He didn't dare to even breathe as he waited. He bit his lip again as tears of worry formed at the corners of his eyes. Another moment of silence passed, and then more dull heartbeats could be consistently heard.

A wave of relief swept through him. That feeling though was short-lived as Alex blinked, coughed up some blood, and began to groan in pain. The sound was difficult to endure, it sounded as though his throat might split apart and crumble into dust with each strained sound.

Alex didn't even seem able to see, his eyes darting from side to side blinking randomly at the pain he must have been feeling. Cypher was speechless. This wasn't supposed to happen. How had this happened? How could he have been so careless?

"Step aside! I will take it from here," came a voice from behind him. Cypher turned to see an older woman with silver streaks in her sky-blue hair standing behind him, her arms crossed and a scowl on her face.

"I was hoping you were more skilled than to let your own spell go wild, but perhaps Alvin spoke too highly of you. Now move! Move Goddammit! I have to get this boy to a healer or he won't make it."

The woman pushed Cypher aside and bent down to gently scoop Alex up into her arms. Alex weakly reached out to Cypher and grabbed his sleeve, muttering something under his breath. Cypher gave him a worried look and tried to listen as hard as he could as his friend kept speaking.

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't make out the words Alex was trying to say to him, the panic in his mind coupled with the loud drumming of his own heartbeat thundered in his ears. He couldn't hear anything, not even from his surroundings. It was as if someone had silenced the entire world and Cypher was desperately trying his hardest to hear even the faintest of sounds.

An idea came to him at that moment. It tore through his panic and worry and quickly consumed him. Alvin had mentioned how Mental energy could be used to enhance the senses, all one had to do was direct that flow of energy to the sense a Conductor wished to make stronger and the body would do the rest.

He extended his mental energy as far as he could, but it resisted him. It was as if a thick band was wrapped tightly around his mind, keeping his energy from expanding beyond a certain point. Cypher pushed harder and funneled more energy into his attempt and finally, he managed to hear what his friend was mumbling.

"I-It's n-no-t... fault... you... f-fault... Cyph'.." He could barely understand what Alex was saying. Despite the effort, he was putting forth to hear his friend's words, he still couldn't understand. Just because he could hear the words, didn't mean that he could also understand them.

They were strained, broken sentences, and to make matters worse, Cypher was in a state of panic and worry. Coupled with all those things, he was also trying his hardest to extend his Mental energy to his ears and that required a lot of focus since he had never attempted something like this before.

His mind was overtaxed and with a harsh snapping feeling, his mental energy collapsed back into him, leaving a loud ringing in his ears and rendering him deaf to the world once again. The pain was blinding, and the intensity of it caused his vision to flicker. He clutched at his head while squeezing one eye shut as if to somehow ward off the painful assault.

It was like someone had repeatedly taken a hammer to his skull, and blood began to flow out of his nose in a thin trickle but he didn't care. It wasn't important right now, Alex was. Cypher turned to ask the woman something, but before he could even question her, she dashed off at blinding speed with his friend in a silent whirl of speed and movement.

A moment later and she was gone, her silhouette shimmering for a moment before disappearing through the small Slingate at the other end of the field. Cypher could only stare in shock as the other students followed after the woman leaving him alone in the field.

As tears began to flow out from his eyes he fell to his knees. He stared blankly at the Slingate in the distance, then down at his own hands as despair took hold of him. With the intense pain still throbbing in his head, all he could do was look down in shock and fear of his own power.

'What have I done..?'