Return of the Runebound Professor

Moxie let out an amused huff. “Do I look like a theologist to you?”

“That depends on what theologists are supposed to look like,” Noah replied, giving Moxie a once-over.

“You’re such an idiot,” Moxie said. She snagged a piece of cheese from the plate and popped it into her mouth. Her nose scrunched in distaste. “Bah. I hate this kind. And to answer your question, there’s a lot of different theories on it. It’s one of the main reasons the Bastions exist in the first place.”

“Research institutes, right?”

“Well, not originally, but that’s what they are now,” Moxie said, offering the plate to Noah. He gathered the energy to take a grape for himself.

“I don’t suppose you want to expand on that?”

“And now I suppose I look like a historian.” Moxie took another piece of cheese. “The Bastions were built during the Long Night, in order to give the Arbalest Kingdom a few final places to fortify against some of the most powerful Great Monsters we’ve ever seen. You know how there isn’t anyone here over Rank 6, right?”

Noah nodded. Moxie held out a piece of cheese and he took it. He had to admit she was right – it wasn’t the best tasting cheese he’d ever had. It was a few too many steps close to the taste of mold and old socks.

“Well, the Great Monsters were Rank 7. The distance between Rank 6 and Rank 7 is much harder to bridge than the one between Rank 3 and 4. Apparently, you gain Rune Force at Rank 7.”

“Not Runic Force, because I already know you’re thinking that. Rune Force. The ability to manifest your Rune just through sheer power. Every Rank after Rank 3 gives a significant boost to your powers. Rank 4 gives you a domain, which is an area under your control directly around your body that interferes with other people’s magic. Rank 5 lets you manifest your Rune’s energy on its own within your domain.”

Noah’s eyes lit up. “Oh. Like summoning a fireball instead of having to use something to make the spark.”

“Yes.” Moxie nodded. “At Rank 6, your soul enters your domain and gives it a unique effect that changes from person to person. And, at Rank 7, you can summon the literal pressure of your Runes, like you’ve got your own gravitational force around you. Anyway – the Great Monsters were supposedly Rank 7s, and they had a chokehold over all the monsters in the kingdom. Humanity was getting slaughtered, so they retreated to four Bastions and reinforced them as best as they could.”

“I suppose it worked.”

“Evidently. Somehow, even without Rank 7s, humanity managed to weather the Greater Monsters. But after that, we already had these massive, fortified cities and people didn’t want to have to move again.”

“So they became schools.”

“Among other things. Initially, they were just places to live. But with the concentrated talent from all over the kingdom, it was inevitable. People started pooling resources and studying together, trying to learn more about Runes. The noble houses started funding the research, keeping it for themselves to make their ranks grow stronger.”

“Sounds about right,” Noah said. He paused for a moment. “So… did they figure anything useful out?”

“How would I know?” Moxie asked with a snort. “I’m not exactly high up in my family. If they did, I wouldn’t know. But the basic stuff is fairly commonly known. Runes form from energy.”

Noah resisted the urge to make a snarky remark. Considering Runes were literally energy, saying that they formed from it was about the same as saying chickens formed from eggs.

“Concentrated energy,” Moxie added, noting the pained look on Noah’s face. “Areas where a specific thing happens a lot, or happens in great intensity. Then that creates areas that draw specific monsters, since they’re more in tune with their Runes than humans are. The monsters reproduce in that area, giving birth to children that are even more strongly steeped in that kind of energy.”

“I see,” Noah said thoughtfully. “But… does anyone know how they actually form? Is it just natural?”

“There are a ton of different arguments I’ve heard for it, but none that really stuck with me. Natural formation is a pretty popular one. I’ve heard that there needs to be some sort of incident that actually sparks the energy, allowing it to combine. Another theory I’ve heard is the energy eventually just flowing into an area that lets it pool for long enough, and the shape it takes ends up being the Rune.”

“You’re telling me Runes are literally just random squiggles?”

“I never put all that much stock in that last theory,” Moxie admitted, rubbing the back of her neck. “I’ve never really thought about it too deeply. Finding a place with enough energy for a Rune to form would be pretty rare, so there really aren’t many opportunities to study it.”

Noah nodded his understanding.

“There are also more theories as to how Runes actually appear in the first place though,” Moxie said. “A lot more. I’ve heard people that say the gods themselves deliver the runes to our world. That they’re gifts, and that devils and demons equip the monsters with their runes.”

“Gods in general?” Noah asked, tilting his head to the side. “Any? Or one in particular?”

Moxie shrugged. “There are a lot. A few churches trace back to the Rank 7 and up lineages that formed the Arbalest Empire in the first place, so I suppose they exist. Gods are technically just Rank 9 and higher beings, but please don’t go quoting me on that. The last thing I need is some clergyman telling me I’ve insulted his god or goddess.”

Todd mentioned that. I just don’t have a frame of reference for how strong a Rank 9 really is. I haven’t even seen a Rank 5 in action – Dayton never really fought me. He just tried to fry me a few times. And, from what I heard, he wasn’t much of a Rank 5 anyway.

“That helps a lot,” Noah said. “Thank you.”

“No problem, but why are you thinking about that now?” Moxie asked.

Noah plucked another grape from the plate. “I’m sitting in bed and can’t really move. What else would I do? It’s a great time to think.”

“Fair point.”

The two of them ate the rest of the platter without speaking much more. When they’d finished, Noah let out a satisfied sigh. He’d actually managed to go through the entire meal without needing help this time.

“Thanks for the meal,” Noah said.

“I already told you that you’re paying for it.”

Noah chuckled. “That’s also true. Are you sure I can afford this? I only made ten gold a month as a Rank 1.”

“That’s impressively bad, honestly. I suppose it makes sense considering you were a Rank 1. Emily should be a Rank 2 by the time she graduates, so you were really behind.”

“How much am I getting paid now?”

“Fifty,” Moxie said. “I get one hundred. They must have actively been making a point to pay you less because of your Rank.”

Noah’s eye twitched. “I feel like I got scammed. I was getting paid a tenth of what you were?”

Moxie sent him a smug grin. “I’m just that much better.”

“If I wasn’t a wooden log, I’d make you prove that. But, even now, I can still roll aggressively toward you,” Noah threatened.

“Please don’t. I need my shins intact.” Moxie raised her hands defensively, letting out a small laugh. She glanced out the window and winced. “It’s getting a little late. I’ve got some more work to take care of. You’ll be fine?”

“Yeah.”

Moxie nodded and rose to her feet, taking the plate. “I’ll see you tomorrow when I drop off food for the day.”

“Thanks again,” Noah said.

Moxie just shook her head and waved him farewell before she left the room. A flicker of confusion passed over his face.

I wonder where she sleeps for the night considering I’ve stolen her bed. I’ll ask her tomorrow. For now, I’ve got some more work to do.

Noah closed his eyes and slipped into his mindspace. He was greeted by the familiar darkness split apart by the considerably less welcome jagged cracks of white void. And, together with everything else came the sensation of the river.

He rose to his feet and stepped over one of the cracks, walking in a slow circle just to give himself something to do. “I can feel that there’s energy here. I don’t know what it is, but if I can pull it into a Rune, then maybe I can heal my soul. But I have no idea how I’m supposed to coax it into anything. I can’t move the energy around since it’s not in a Rune, and it doesn’t seem to be doing anything on its own right now.”

No answer arose from his mindspace. Noah paced in circles for longer than he cared to admit, just trying to figure out what he could possibly do to get the energy to move. It wasn’t like there was much else he was capable of at the moment.

Finally, Noah came to a stop before one of the larger cracks in his soul. It didn’t seem to matter where he stood – the river of calming energy felt like it permeated his entire soul evenly, without favoring any area over the other.

“Screw natural formation,” Noah decided. “If that’s the case, then I can’t do anything about it. I have to try something else. Let’s see… I don’t see any gods or demons to ask for help, so that’s off the list. That leaves some form of incident?”

Noah’s face twitched as an idea struck him. He let out a heavy sigh, already trying to move past it, but the idea had already taken a bit too much of a hold in him to dismiss it now. After fighting with himself for a few moments, Noah let his eyes open back in the real world.

“Goddamn it,” Noah muttered. “This is a terrible idea. Absolutely no reason to do this.”

Unfortunately, there wasn’t anyone there to talk him out of it. Muttering under his breath, Noah carefully swung his legs out of Moxie’s bed. He paused before he stood up.

There’s a decent amount of merit behind this idea, but it’s still stupid as hell. I could always just sit around and wait, hoping something changes.

But… it really doesn’t look like it will. My soul isn’t healing. Even though my body’s getting better, having this much damage is going to severely impede me in the long run. It affects Rune combinations, and everything seems based off my soul. Letting it sit like this is a recipe for disaster.

Despite all that, he sat at the edge of Moxie’s bed for almost another hour, desperately trying to think of any other options that he could try. Nothing came to him. Noah huffed and stood, bracing himself against the wall as a wave of dizziness washed over him.

When it passed, he slowly knelt and hooked his bag from the ground, slinging the gourd over his shoulder and fishing through his belongings until he found the key to his room. He slung the bag over his shoulder and trudged his way along the wall toward the door.

If I’m going to do this, I won’t do it in Moxie’s room. I refuse.

He staggered his way over to the door, pulling it open and slipping out. Noah headed back down the hall and up to his room, where it took him several tries to get the key into the lock. When it finally clicked open, he breathed a sigh of relief.

The energy was quickly draining out of his body. If Noah was going to do this, he needed to be fast. He stepped into his room, leaning heavily on the doorknob as he pulled the door shut behind him, and then did his best zombie impression as he forced himself into the bathroom.

Noah’s bag slipped from his shoulder and thudded to the bathroom floor. He knelt, his head spinning as he dug through it and pulled out his makeshift Slasher claw dagger. Noah crawled over to the shower, not even able to gather the energy to stand back up again.

“Why is it,” Noah asked, breathing heavily and looking up at the ceiling, “that the universe seems to keep making me do this?”

A tiny voice inside Noah’s head reminded him that he was the one choosing to do everything, and it was pretty unfair to blame the universe for his decisions. He crushed that little voice, grinding it out.

If I want to comfort myself by blaming the cosmos for my penchant for killing myself, then I damn well will. Now, let’s get this over with. Inciting event, here we come.

Noah lifted the dagger for the second time in this particular bathroom, pausing for just an instant. Then he ripped it across his throat.

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