Return of the Runebound Professor

Noah let himself pout for about five minutes. Then he got bored. It was difficult to sit around doing nothing for too long when there was still so much that he could actually do – and now that he was a Rank 3, there was one particular thing that called to him more than any of the others.

As he sat there, drumming his fingers on his chin and thinking, Lee’s head popped out from the side of his opening to his tent, nearly scaring the life out of him.

“Whatcha doing?” Lee asked.

“God,” Noah said, shaking his head. “I really need to fix tremorsense. You scared the life out of me. I was contemplating killing myself.”

“That’s not a good thing,” Lee said with a frown. “Why?”

“I was bored.”

“You have serious problems,” Lee said, stepping into the tent. “If you’re that bored, just go kill or eat something. It always does the trick for me.”

“I’m sure it does.” Noah rolled his eyes. “And I wasn’t just contemplating it because I wanted something to do. I’m not that lost. It would be helpful.”

“Helpful for what?”

Would Lee feel bad if I told her that I’d be doing it to try to find a way to cure her soul damage? She’s pretty laid back, but I know she’s a lot more insightful than she lets on. It might make her unhappy.

“Working on a new Rune,” Noah said, settling on a course.

Lee raised an eyebrow. “You mean you dying somehow helps you with your Runes? That’s weird. Guess I haven’t tried it, but it seems a little counterintuitive.”

“Can’t say I recommend it for anyone else. I’m honestly not sure if it works, but it’s not really the worst drawback, you know? Just a mild annoyance.”

“Right,” Lee said, squinting at Noah. “Death. Mild annoyance. I wish I had your powers. I’d be the strongest demon in the world. Not even archdemons think of death as inconsequential.”

“What would you do differently?” Noah sent Lee a curious look. “If you had my powers. Would anything change?”

Lee blinked, then rubbed her nose. “No. Probably not. I like lazing around. If I wanted to become that strong, it would be a lot of work, and that seems like a real bother.”

Noah chuckled. “I thought so.”

They fell silent for a few moments.

“I think I’m going to do it,” Noah said.

Lee rolled her eyes. “Can’t say I’m surprised. I’m pretty sure that’s your solution to at least half of your problems, if not more.”

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” Noah said with a shrug. “It’s worked so far. Can you eat my body after the new one forms?”

“Sure. I haven’t had breakfast yet.”

“Really?”

“No. I was lying, but it’s never a bad time for breakfast.”

Noah laughed. He pulled his coat and shirt off, tossing them to the side of the tent. Lee’s eyes followed them.

“What are you doing?”

“Taking my clothes off so you don’t eat them as well. I don’t really want to waste a perfectly good set. I ruin enough as it is.”

Lee didn’t say anything, so Noah turned around and pulled the rest of his clothes off, adding them to the pile. He pulled his claw dagger out from his travel bag and studied it for a moment.

“You know, there has to be a faster way to do this than slitting my throat,” Noah said. “It’s kind of slow and messy, you know?”

“Don’t ask me to kill you. That’s a bit much,” Lee said, scrunching her nose, studying Noah’s back intently.

“Yeah, that would be less than ideal anyway.” Noah rubbed his chin.

“Maybe stab the back of your neck?” Lee suggested. “It’s connected right to your brain. If you hit it right, that could be faster than waiting to bleed out.”

“Huh. Worth a try,” Noah said. He reached around his back, feeling for his neck. “It’ll be a bit awkward to stab that myself, but I figure I can get it with a little practice. Guess we’ll find out if it’s faster or not.”

“This is the weirdest conversation I’ve ever had.”

“Give it some time. I’m sure we’ll have a worse one at some point,” Noah said absentmindedly as he lined the dagger up with the back of his neck and practiced a few stabbing motions. He didn’t want to mistakenly do it too light and end up just hurting himself without dealing the finishing blow. “How’d you figure this out, by the way?”

“Do you really want the answer to that?” Lee asked.

“Probably not,” Noah admitted. He raised the dagger, then plunged it down. There was a thunk as it drove home and he jerked, his body suddenly going limp as he pitched forward, smacking into the side of the tent and sliding to the ground.

Lee hadn’t been wrong. Not more than a few moments later, Noah lifted out from his body, his soul rising up in the stone tent. He glanced at his glowing blue hands. It had been a while since he’d last died, and this was probably the least bloody death he’d ever had.

The pain had been quick enough that he’d barely noticed it – not that any form of dying was particularly pleasant. It just lost a lot of its sting when he knew that it wasn’t going to last. Lee approached Noah’s body, nudging him slightly with a nervous frown on her face.

Maybe I shouldn’t do this in front of Lee too much. She looks more worried than she let on. It shouldn’t be that big of a deal. She should know that I’m coming back, but I suppose it probably isn’t the most comforting experience to watch someone stab themselves in front of you.

This wasn’t the time to really sit down and consider the effects of killing himself in front of Lee. There was only a limited amount of time to work with for him to try to manifest the Rune, and it was already starting to run out.

Noah stilled his breath, closing his eyes and resisting the pull of his gourd as he sank into his mindspace, greeting the darkness that bloomed around him. He sent his mind out to the flowing rivers of chilly energy that resided within his soul, coaxing them into the shape of a rune.

It was marginally easier than it had been the previous time, as he’d already done it once before. Cold power pulsed within Noah’s veins and the air around him shimmered with a delicate rose color.

As peaceful as it looked, it felt like an ocean was beating against Noah’s chest. He drank power in from the surroundings of his soul, gathering as much as he could handle. The pull of Sunder grew stronger at the back of his mind, but he pushed back against it. He still had some time to work with, and now that he had a Rank 3 Rune, he was determined to do more than he had the previous time.

Noah’s hands started to tremble. Adrenaline thumped in his body with such strength that he could feel his heartbeat – even though he didn’t actually have a body at the moment. The world around Noah trembled.

And then, as the immense amount of energy threatened to overwhelm Noah, he released it, focusing his intent. In an instant, all the magic he had gathered shot out from his body, swirling out in streamers as it condensed in the air before him.

A smooth, pearl colored brush stroke painted itself. Noah staggered as what felt like a physical blow struck his body. Even though it was just a single line of a Rune, it felt like it had the power of a full Rune.

It was followed by a second stroke, and then a third. Each one slammed into Noah, waves of tidal pressure threatening to crush his body beneath their immense might. Weight bore down on Noah’s shoulders and he felt all his Runes shudder, pressing back to keep him from getting turned into a soul pancake.

The pull of Sunder paused. The noose around Noah’s neck didn’t loosen, but it froze in place like a boy who had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar past his bedtime. Noah’s soul-hair stood on end as a sharp chill passed over him.

Something was there.

Noah couldn’t tell what it was. He couldn’t tell how he knew – but he did. His skin prickled and he swallowed heavily. Even the formation of the Rune had paused, waiting for something.

Why do you seek this Rune?

The thought wasn’t Noah’s. It was like a force of nature, crashing into his mindspace and obliterating his mental defenses. There was no malice in the word, but it held such might that he could barely even stand in its presence.

“To cure my friend’s soul damage,” Noah replied. He turned in a circle, trying to find the source of the voice.

An instant passed.

This reason is not sufficient. You do not deserve this Rune.

There was a loud twang. Noah’s soul shuddered as everything suddenly sped back up. Sunder’s pull on him redoubled, and the brushstrokes forming in the air started to tremble. Energy started to flow out of them – but this time, instead of sinking into his soulspace, it was vanishing. Something was sucking it up.

Shit, shit, shit.

Noah didn’t have much time to react. If the energy vanished from his soul, then he wasn’t going to get a second chance to form the Rune. Whatever had spoken to him was going to take it back, and he’d be damned if he let that happen.

Sunder, come to me.

The Master Rune spun in the air above Noah, dropping like a rock. He reached up with one hand, touching the Rune’s trembling surface. Noah’s veins turned jet black and he thrust his other hand forward, gritting his teeth.

“I’m sorry, but I need this power,” Noah snarled. “Get out of my soul!”

The dark ground trembled. A black spear carved through the air, plummeting from the sky and slamming straight into the center of the half-formed, pearl colored Rune.

A yelp echoed through Noah’s mindspace. The oppressive presence suddenly vanished. Noah didn’t waste an instant. He released Sunder, then enveloped the new Rune with his mind and focused intently.

I need this, but if that exact intent was somebody else’s Rune… I’ll just change it a little bit.

Noah gritted his teeth, pressing his intent down on the Rune. Another brushstroke melted the dark. Stroke by stroke, the Runic energy painted through Noah’s mindspace, completing the Rune he’d started to form.

Sunder’s grip around Noah’s throat was so tight that he couldn’t even breath, but he held his position. He just needed –

A brilliant chime shattered the silence. The pink energy detonated in a hurricane of pink petals that blew out across Noah’s mindspace, leaving behind a brilliant, pearl colored Rune in their wake.

As Noah laid eyes upon the Rune, his soul trembled. It lifted, rising past the Natural Disaster Rune. It came to a stop beside Sunder, glittering in its pearlescent glory.

Oh, shit.

“Something tells me she’s not going to be very happy about this,” Noah muttered as he stared up at the Rune. “Good to know she survived the creepy monster attacking her, though. Maybe she’ll accept a handwritten apology?”

Sunder lashed out, grabbing him in the moment of distraction. He hardly even cared. His mind was still fixated on the new Rune as it tried to process just how much trouble he’d just gotten himself into.

His last thought before he was slammed back into his body in the real world was the Rune’s name.

Fragment of Renewal.

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