Return of the Runebound Professor

“A goddess is going to try to kill us?” Lee asked in a hushed whisper.

“Possibly,” Noah said, scratching at the side of his face. “I suppose she had a chance to do that when she was in my soul and she didn’t, but she certainly isn’t happy.”

“You need to get some food for her,” Lee suggested. “When she shows up and you feed her, maybe she won’t kill the rest of us.”

“I don’t think she’d kill the rest of you. Just me.”

“Do you really think a god would notice if they killed a few extra mortals?”

Noah’s expression darkened. The memory of Renewal’s voice slamming into his soul was still ingrained into his memory. She could definitely kill all of them with little more than just a flick of her hand, and Lee was right – Renewal might not even notice if she killed a few other mortals in the process.

“I’ll keep an eye out for some god–sized snacks,” Noah said. “I think this is probably one of those problems that all I can really do is ignore it. It’s not like I’m going to be able to fight a goddess if she comes hunting for me, so I’ll just focus on other things until something new comes up that changes the situation.”

“That’s a lot of words to say that you’re going to pretend like it never happened and hope the goddess forgets you exist.”

“Yup,” Noah agreed. “I got this Rune, though. Might as well try using it. Shall we?”

“You,” Noah replied.

Lee blinked. “You want to attack me?”

“No,” Noah said with a laugh. “It’s not a fighting Rune. It’s for healing. This is the way I healed all the soul damage I had after the fight with the Inquisitors. I needed it for myself because of how much damage I take when I die, but it’s got the added bonus of possibly giving me a way to help you too.”

Lee’s eyes narrowed and she studied Noah intently. “You didn’t go through all this trouble and danger just to get that for me, right? It just happens to also help?”

“Yep. Exactly. Purely self-motivated,” Noah lied.

“Okay!” Lee said cheerfully. “I’m just lucky. I can’t complain about that. How does it work?”

Wow, she didn’t even doubt me for a second. Makes me feel a bit bad about lying, but she’d definitely feel terrible if she knew that I did this specifically to cure her. It’s a good thing I’m not as bad at lying as Brayden is or she totally would have figured it out.

“Just sit down. I’m going to try to push the energy into you,” Noah said. “Hopefully that’s enough.”

Lee turned to face one of the walls and flopped down, sitting cross legged with her back to Noah. He sat down behind her and put his hands on Lee’s back, closing his eyes and reaching into his soul to call on Renewal’s Rune.

He was so concentrated that he didn’t even notice how stiff Lee’s shoulders were. She’d also chosen her position well – it completely hid her face from him. Even though Noah’s eyes were closed, he might have noticed her wiping her nose with the back of her hand and blinking furiously to keep herself from letting her eyes water up too much.

Of course, Noah noticed none of that. He was too focused on his new Rune. The pearly, flowing lines of the Fragment of Renewal as it floated in his mindspace. He still wasn’t sure exactly what the Fragment part meant.

It’s not like it’s possible to have part of a Master Rune. That was really well established. You can’t split them up. So… what is this? It doesn’t seem to be implying that it’s imperfect – just incomplete. That’s a really important difference.

Noah pursed his lips, studying it intently. The rune lowered down toward him, and the pressure bearing down on Noah and his normal Runes started to ramp up. Noah gritted his teeth as the ground of his mindspace started to shake.

The new Rune was easily just as strong as Sunder. It felt like the weight of the world was bearing down on him, trying to grind him to a paste. Luckily, this wasn’t the first time he’d shouldered a massive Rune.

Noah was used to it – or at least, as used to it as he could get. He raised a hand, letting it brush against the gentle surface of the Rune. Cold rivers of energy poured into his body and he drew in a sharp gasp.

It felt like he’d been plunged into a freezing ocean. Pressure pressed on Noah from every direction, both inside and outside of his body. He couldn’t even bring himself to breath. His mind screamed that, if he did, he would drown.

Noah forced his eyes open, snapping back into the real world. Energy from the Fragment of Renewal circulated throughout him, filling him completely. Strangely, it didn’t look like his veins had changed color.

Now wasn’t the time to worry about the differences between Sunder and the new Rune. Noah exhaled, letting the energy pour out of his hands and into Lee. She let out a startled yelp, twitching and nearly jumping away from Noah.

He grabbed onto her shoulders, not letting Lee break contact. The energy left him far slower than Sunder’s typically did. Instead of flooding out in a rush, it trickled from his palms and into Lee’s back steadily.

Lee squirmed beneath his grip, but she obediently sat in place until the last vestiges of the power left Noah’s body. A gentle, pearly glow enveloped Lee, lighting the stone tent with dim light for several seconds before slowly fading away.

They were silent for several moments. Then Lee let out a shuddering breath. Noah released her shoulders.

“Did it work?” Noah asked.

“I can’t believe it,” Lee said, her voice quavering. “It did. My soul is healing. It’s not completely fixed, but it’s pulling itself back together way faster than it should be.”

Odd. My soul was completely healed in an instant the last time. Must be because the energy is more constrained now that the Rune is actually whole and not just exploding all over my soul, spilling it everywhere.

“Brilliant.” Noah grinned. “I’m really glad it worked. I was worried it might not function for somebody else.”

“It feels nice. Like a warm hug,” Lee said, arching her back and stretching her arms over her head as she yawned. “It was all cold and prickly at first. I still can’t believe this is possible. I didn’t think there was actually a way to have a Rune that healed soul damage.”

“Well, make sure it doesn’t get out. I don’t want to get locked up in some noble’s basement.”

Lee rose to her feet, still facing the wall. She flexed her fingers and leaned down, touching her toes before bouncing back upright. She wiped her face before turning to look at Noah, a glint in her eyes.

Before he could move, Lee lunged forward, tackling him in a hug. As light as Lee was, she still moved fast enough to knock Noah to the ground as she wrapped her limbs around him. He let out a startled grunt.

“Thank you,” Lee said, her voice muffled from her face being pressed into his clothes.

“I told you it was just a lucky coincidence,” Noah grumbled. “You don’t have to worry about it.”

“Am I interrupting something?”

Noah craned his head back, looking up at Moxie as she watched on with an amused expression.

“Noah fixed my soul damage!” Lee exclaimed – or at least, Noah was pretty sure that was she was trying to say. Her face was still buried into his chest, so all that came out was a series of excited grunts.

“Can you translate that?” Moxie asked.

“I formed a new Rune and fixed her soul damage,” Noah said. He would have scratched the back of his neck sheepishly if Lee didn’t currently have his arms pinned to his sides in an iron grip. She was still impossibly strong for her size, to the point where he couldn’t budge in the slightest.

Moxie stared at Noah, her face going flat. Her left eye twitched and she ran a hand through her hair before crossing her legs and sitting down beside Noah’s head.

“Are you capable of going for more than a few days without discovering some earthshattering revelation? I don’t understand how you keep doing this. I trust you understand how important it is that absolutely nobody ever figures out you did this, right?” Moxie asked, her eyes dead serious. “This is really dangerous, Noah. You made a Rune. People will kill for the information on how. I’m sure the knowledge exists in the upper echelons of the noble houses, but there are a lot of powerful mages that aren’t in those.”

Lee lifted her head up so she could look at Moxie, still not releasing Noah from his imprisonment. “He stole the rune from a goddess.”

She ducked her head back down. Noah cleared his throat as Moxie’s eyes shifted back to him.

“Noah?” There was a dangerous note to Moxie’s voice, like she wasn’t sure if she should be baffled, awed, horrified, or a mixture all three. “I don’t suppose you’re going to expand on that?”

“That kind of summarized it, actually,” Noah said. “And it’s not just a normal Rune. I think it’s a Master Rune. A weird one.”

Moxie drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly, pressing her hands to her cheeks and dragging them down slowly. She shifted her position, laying down beside Noah and staring up at the top of the stone tent.

“Moxie?” Noah asked. “You okay?”

“Does the goddess know you stole her rune? I’m not even going to bother asking how you managed to get your hands on it in the first place.”

“…yeah.”

“Okay.”

They were silent for several moments.

“Just okay?” Noah asked. “I was kind of expecting a more panicked response.”

“I think my panic receptors are fried,” Moxie muttered. “I’m just numb now. We’re probably all going to die.”

“If she was going to kill Noah, she probably already would have. Let’s just ignore the problem and pretend it’s not there,” Lee said, lifting her head and shamelessly stealing Noah’s strategy.

“Did you happen to find a Rune that erases memories as well?” Moxie asked. “I think I might be happier not knowing that a goddess might be trying to hunt us all down right now.”

Lee released Noah for a moment, but only for long enough for an arm and a leg to stretch out, looping around Moxie. Before Moxie could respond, Lee yanked them all together, drawing surprised grunts out of both Noah and Moxie.

“You are squeezing the life out of me,” Noah wheezed.

“It’s okay. You can heal it with your new Rune,” Lee said.

“No, I can’t. That only heals soul damage. I think.”

“Then you can die. It’s not that big of a deal.”

“What about me?” Moxie demanded, trying to wiggle free. “What’s gotten into you, Lee?”

Lee snickered. She finally released them, hopping to her feet. “I’m just so full of energy now. I’ve been feeling exhausted for so long because of that soul damage that I’ve got a bunch of time to make up on now! I’m gonna go bother the students. See ya!”

She zipped out of the tent, still laughing to herself. Noah and Moxie sat up, rubbing their arms. Lee’s grip really was merciless, and she’d definitely been holding back. Noah suspected that she might have actually broken their bones if she hadn’t been.

“I’m not sure what to say beyond good job,” Moxie said, looking out the tent in the direction Lee had gone.

Noah blinked. “What?”

“You rushed to Rank 3 to make that Rune, didn’t you? Lee was suffering, even though she was hiding it. I guess it’s her fault for taking so much soul damage, but I can’t blame her. It’s not often you get the chance to get stronger. I’m glad she’s back to normal, even if I suspect we might all be about to suffer a little bit for it.”

“Especially our food supplies,” Noah agreed. “And the students. We better go check on them before Lee does too much damage.”

They both shuddered and strode out of the tent to catch up to Lee, thoughts of their other problems temporarily pushed aside in the face of the much more immediate threat of death-by-stretching.

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