Return of the Runebound Professor

“Demons,” Azel said, raising a finger into the air, “are not like humans.”

“Gee. Enlightening,” Noah grumbled. Azel ignored him and continued speaking, adopting a lecturing tone that Noah had used many times himself while teaching a class.

“We feed differently. We grow differently. We live differently. In short, we are better than humans.”

“Certainly have bigger egos.”

“Among other things,” Azel agreed. “Lee already told you that demons are more closely bonded with their Runes than humans are, which is why she was hit so hard when she ripped two of them out.”

Noah nodded, gesturing for Azel to get on with it. The less time he spent here, the better. There was something about the demon that set Noah’s hair on end. Even though he was fairly conversational, a portion of Noah that was buried deep down within his chest screamed that Azel was a predator.

No matter how smooth Azel talked – not that the demon was particularly likeable – he was still actively trying to kill Noah.

“What Lee didn’t say is that there’s a lot more to it than that. We don’t eat the same way humans do. We can, of course, but it’s more like a hobby than a real source of sustenance. What we truly survive on is emotion.”

“What, are you trying to convince me that Lee is going to turn into a monster or something?”

“On the contrary. Emotion is a wonderful thing. Sure, there are a few real nasty ones like hatred that are just thrilling to play with, but not every demon consumes and controls the same types of emotion. Take me, for example. My favorite emotions are anger and lust. They pair wonderfully together, I should mention. A clouded mind is an easy one to control.”

Lee didn’t really mention that at all, but I’ve never seen her trying to get any specific sort of emotion out of anyone. She’s just… Lee. I find it hard to see a hidden motive behind anything she’s done. Azel is full of shit.

“I like that look in your eyes, but you’ve misunderstood me,” Azel said. “I’m not going to correct you, though. It’ll be much more enjoyable to watch you figure it out on your own. Lee is stunted. Her Runes have seriously restricted her – especially those Shift Runes.”

“What’s wrong with her Shift Runes? I thought they were pretty good,” Noah said.

Azel sent Noah a withering glare. “For someone that claims to care about his friends, you don’t know much about them. But, either way, Shift Runes are almost pointless for a demon. We can already bend the way others see us. Changing shapes is just an unnecessary add-on. Lee could do everything she already does without them, meaning those Runes are wasted.”

Noah leaned back. He could still read Azel’s mind, so he knew that the demon wasn’t lying. But that meant Lee really did have a lot of worthless Runes. She’d said that she got her Runes from her parents, but that had also been when she’d been pretending to be a Skinwalker.

“Are you getting at something with this?” Noah asked.

“If you want more information, then you’re going to have to pay for it. I don’t give things out for free. I’ll just leave you with this. Once those runes of hers are fixed, there will be changes.”

“Changes?” Noah asked, his eyes narrow.

“You’ll find out.” Azel waved his hands and the cottage vanished, replaced by the empty void of Noah’s soul once more. He grinned, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “Good job avoiding the question about Evergreen’s staff. I have no idea how it works, but I’m sure you’ll work something out. Do try and keep things interesting for me, Vines. You care so much about your friends. I love it. That means there’s so much more to take.”

And, with a resounding pop, Azel vanished. The swirl of reddish-black energy remained on the ground where he’d stood, but there was no sign of the demon. Noah ground his teeth.

Damn it. I can’t say that went well at all. I need to get access to the information the Inquisitors have on demons to figure out how to rip this bugger out of my soul.

Noah let his mindspace fade from around him and returned to the real world. Lee and Moxie were both watching the cube intently as a fight unfolded upon it. Eline ducked and weaved as she ran to keep ahead of a pair of metal-feathered birds that were hot on her tail. Their wingspan was easily twice her height, and the long, jagged beaks on their faces didn’t look like they were meant for eating berries.

“She looks like she’s having fun,” Noah said.

“Just watch,” Moxie said, a note of respect in her voice. Noah looked back to the screen in confusion. There wasn’t anything about Eline’s performance that looked particularly inspiring. But, a few seconds later, it became abundantly clear what she was doing.

A pair of students were huddled beneath two trees. The trees had leaned over and grown in unnatural directions to form a makeshift shelter – at least one of them must have had a Wood Rune or the like.

It didn’t particularly matter what Rune they had, though. Neither of them were prepared for Eline to sprint into their camp, two huge monsters flying after her. She dove past their tent, hitting the snow in a roll.

One of the students let out a warning cry, but it was too late to react. As large as the birds were, they were almost soundless – and the students hadn’t been paying nearly enough attention to their surroundings to notice Eline in time.

The birds crashed into the camp, screaming in fury as they ripped it apart. The students scrambled to defend themselves, their shields flashing to life as the trees creaked and swung at the birds, batting them away.

Eline wasn’t done, though. While the two groups started to fight, she slipped into their shelter, snagging their bags and slipping back out into the snow. Within seconds, she vanished into the snowstorm.

“Devious,” Noah said. “That’s a real nasty strategy. Has she been doing that for a while?”

“Yeah.” Moxie nodded. “She’s already managed to steal a token from another group. This is her third one. There’s not a ton left in anyone’s bags, but some students collected water and the like – it’s a pretty smart strategy.”

“Wouldn’t work if she was actually alone in the wild,” Lee pointed out.

“Agreed, but I think it’s pretty clear that this exam’s survival aspect isn’t just the monsters. It’s also the other students,” Noah said. He pursed his lips, then shook his head. “Probably should have seen that coming, but oh well. Any updates from Evergreen?”

“None. We’ve just left her there.” Moxie sent a nervous glance back at the door. “I keep worrying that someone’s going to come inside and see what’s going on.”

“Doubt that’ll happen. Nobody would want to piss Evergreen off by interrupting what she’s doing. I did have a little chat with the unwelcome passenger in my head, though. He had some thoughts about Evergreen.”

Moxie’s brow furrowed. “Is talking with the demon wise? It seemed pretty bent on killing you. Also, are you okay?”

“Huh? Yeah. I’m fine. Why?”

“Your face is a little red,” Moxie said.

Noah repressed a curse and shook his head, clearing his thoughts.

Annoying bloody demon. I can’t afford to waste time thinking about stuff like this.

“It’s nothing.” Noah waved his hand dismissively. “Don’t worry about it. And I’m stuck with him in my head until I figure out some way to deal with things, so it’s better to learn more about the enemy. Either way, he said that the Evergreen we’re seeing is a construct. It’s not a real person. She’s powered through the staff. If we kill her and then use the staff, we should hypothetically be able to make a new construct that doesn’t have the memories she’s picked up.”

“You’re sure he told you the truth?” Lee asked.

Noah nodded. “I could read his mind while we were speaking. It was the truth. The problem is that I have no idea how to work Evergreen’s staff, and I don’t know any Imbuers that could help us.”

“Fiddling with the staff on our own would be an exceptionally bad idea,” Moxie warned. She paused to glance up at a fight playing out on the cube, then continued. “Evergreen or not – this is definitely her staff. It’ll be trapped and incredibly dangerous to try to activate, much less use.”

“Right. And, if this is a construct, then we probably can’t force it to tell us how the staff works,” Noah said with a sigh. “Which means we have a strategy but no way to actually execute on it. Any ideas?”

Both Moxie and Lee shook their heads silently. Evergreen’s construct glared at them from her chair, but nobody paid her any attention. Moxie just waved her hand and covered her eyes once more.

The relative silence was broken only by the sounds of fighting coming from the cube and an incessant knocking.

A moment passed and Noah’s brow furrowed.

Knocking?

“Does anybody else hear that?”

“Hear what?” Lee asked.

“The knocking.”

They all fell silent for a second. Sure enough, there was a frantic knocking noise coming from the other side of the door. The three exchanged a panicked glance.

“Shit,” Moxie muttered. “So much for people not wanting to bother Evergreen.”

Noah rose to his feet, calling on his Runes as he approached the door. No matter who it was, if he couldn’t get them to leave, then he had to make sure that they didn’t see Evergreen. If they did, that would be the end.

“Hello?” a faint, familiar voice called from the other side of the door. “I’ve been knocking for like two minutes! Let me in! You’re ruining my cool entrance!”

It only took Noah an instant to realize who the voice belonged to. He turned back to the others, not sure if he should feel relieved or even more unsettled.

“What?” Moxie asked in a hushed tone. “Who is it?”

Noah sighed. “Revin.”

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