Return of the Runebound Professor

Noah jerked upright, drawing in a strangled gasp as his soul slammed back into place in the cramped closet. He grabbed his gourd, lurching to his feet as he dug through his bag in search of his clothes.

Good thing I brought all those spares Father had made for me along. It would have been awkward if I had to go on a shopping run while naked – or roll up wearing Moxie’s clothes.

A headache thumped in Noah’s temples, but it wasn’t the worst he’d had. Since he’d technically been the one to deal himself the finishing blow, he hadn’t taken too much soul damage – but he was still blocked from his magic for the next twelve hours or so.

The last thing he’d seen in his soul form before getting ripped away was Gentil’s charred corpse falling to the ground and his assistant getting finished off by Lee and Moxie.

Everything should be handled. Can’t say that killing myself isn’t a damn effective tactic, though.

It’s effective. It’s also stupid. Can’t you find literally any other finishing move?

There’s nothing wrong with it. Shouldn’t you be happy that I just killed a bunch of people? That’s what you want, isn’t it?

Azel grunted.

Yes. Among other things. Death is… not comfortable, though. I do not understand why you put yourself – and more importantly, me – through it. Do you realize that I went without such sensations for hundreds of years, only to experience it dozens of times over after getting saddled with you?

Noah tugged his shirt on, then realized he’d pulled it on backwards. He pulled his arms back in and rotated the shirt around, fixing it.

Semantics. I am a demon, well on his way toward the peak of my power. And I am stuck in your worthless soul, all because of that damn Rune of yours.

Do you want me to throw you a pity party or something? If you weren’t a raging asshole, maybe I’d try to find a way to actually help you.

And if you weren’t a moron, you wouldn’t reveal such weakness. What if I simply pretended to be kind?

Noah snorted. He walked up to the window and peered out of it, hoping to see Moxie and Lee heading along the streets soon.

I’m more than aware you quite literally can’t control yourself. Demons are a lot of things, but you aren’t subtle. If you were, you wouldn’t have blown your cover back with Evergreen. Revealing yourself was also what let me find that little thread of my soul that you’re bound to. If you didn’t do that, I might not have found you.

Azel harrumphed, and Noah resisted the urge to shake his head. It was easy to get complacent with Azel. Sure, the demon did have a complete one-track mind, but it was also more than capable of pushing and nudging Noah to act in ways he didn’t want to.

He’d experienced it multiple times already, and some of the fury that had burned in Noah’s chest during the fight against Gentil had doubtlessly been from Azel as well. The moment he forgot just how dangerous Azel was would be when he slipped up.

Speaking of slipping up, what is your goal? You haven’t come out of my body since that one time. What do you want? Other than getting away from me.

Quite literally that and nothing more, though I admit that I’ve been enjoying things when you go around slaughtering people. If you do that more often, I could be convinced to stick around longer.

That is absolutely the last thing I want.

Azel’s chuckle echoed through Noah’s mind.

Then continue searching for a way to separate us. I look forward to nothing more than ripping you apart with my own hands.

The feeling is mutual.

Noah froze as a thought far more important than Azel struck him. He grabbed his shirt sleeve and pulled it back, letting out a relieved sigh when he saw the Imbuement of the violin and its bow still sitting comfortably on his forearm.

“Thank god,” Noah muttered under his breath, letting his sleeve fall. “It’s still there. I would have been beyond pissed if I’d lost it… but does that mean the Imbuement is actually on my soul rather than my arm? If that’s the case, why can I see it?”

Azel snorted.

Humans are so arrogant. You believe that you’re completely different than what you call monsters, and that your soul and your body are separate. They aren’t. The body is linked to your soul. Why do you think you get headaches after you die? It’s not like your physical brain is the same thing as your soul.

I – huh. That’s a good point, actually. But humans don’t get changed by their Runes as much as monsters do, right? And there are Runes that we can’t use.

All things are energy. Your body, your magic, your soul. Human energy is different from the energy of what you call monsters. It forms a better barrier, keeping the soul and the body from meshing fully. That doesn’t mean they aren’t connected. Just keep that in mind. Humans and Demons aren’t all that different. Our barrier between body and soul is simply far weaker than yours is.

With that, Azel sank into the back of Noah’s mind and a pulse of discomfort wound around his mind. Noah grimaced. Azel was actually being helpful. That was an incredibly worrying thought, because he couldn’t think of any reason why Azel would be helpful.

Noah kept his gaze firmly fixed through the window. Without any magic, heading out to look for Moxie and Lee would end up being more of a hinderance than help, so all he could do was wait.

Luckily, he didn’t have to wait long. The tension flooded out of Noah’s shoulders when he saw Lee and Moxie come striding down the street at a brisk pace before they disappeared from his view, arriving at the entrance of the inn.

A minute later, the door clicked and they walked inside. Moxie looked tired, but the weariness faded when she spotted Noah and let out a relived sigh. Lee gave Noah a little wave, setting her axe down against the wall.

“You’re here!” Moxie hugged Noah, then stepped back and cleared her throat. “It’s a bit hard to remember that you can’t actually… well, you know. Watching you die is unsettling.”

“I’d promise to try to do it less, but I think we both know that would be a lie” Noah said, smiling through the discomfort of his headache. “What happened after I got yanked off?”

“You didn’t miss much. After you blew up Gentil, we killed the silent bloke and had a brief chat with Alexandra.”

“She’s fine, then?”

Moxie grimaced. “I’m not sure fine is the right word. She seemed like she was in a bit of shock, but she’s alive. She was also a criminal by choice, not a complete victim.”

“You’re kidding.” Noah’s brow furrowed. “She was an assassin?”

“Luckily, no. I wouldn’t have let her live if she was, even if she’s young. She refused to kill, and that’s what got her landed in the state we met her in.”

She filled Noah in on the rest of what she’d learned in her brief chat with Alexandra, then stepped back when Lee approached to hold out the black dagger they’d liberated from the room.

“I don’t imagine that’s for anything good, but I’ve got no idea what it’s for,” Noah said, rubbing the back of his head. “Maybe we could bring it to Silvertide? Of everyone we know, I’d imagine he’s the most likely to know what it is.”

“Not a bad idea. If we can’t figure out what it is before the end of summer, that’s not a bad idea,” Moxie said.

“We could always test it,” Lee offered.

“That sounds like a good way to get ourselves blown up,” Noah said with a laugh that he immediately regretted as a twinge of pain shot through his head. Moxie sent him a concerned glance, but he waved it away. “Don’t worry about me. It’s just the effects of my little stint. It’ll be gone by tomorrow.”

Moxie nodded. “Lee, do you want to hold onto the dagger or have me do it? I’ve got a bag we can stuff it into. If you’re holding it, make sure you don’t stab anyone. I don’t know what that dagger does and I don’t want to find out the hard way.”

“You can have it,” Lee said, holding the dagger out handle first. Moxie took it carefully and slid it into her travel bag, wrapping it with a spare shirt to make sure the blade didn’t cut anything on accident. “Can I keep the gemstones? They’re pretty.”

“As long as you don’t eat them,” Moxie replied, only half joking. “We’ll sell them at some point soon.”

“Kay!” Lee flopped onto one of the beds at the far side of the room, immediately ruining its fairly clean sheets by smearing blood and sweat across them. Moxie and Noah exchanged a glance, but neither of them said anything.

The damage was already done, so there was no point keeping Lee from getting a little relaxation in. Lee grabbed one end of the blanket and rolled over, wrapping herself up and promptly falling asleep.

“Wow,” Moxie said, looking on in disbelief. “That was really fast.”

“She must be spent. I haven’t seen her fight for that long at once before. She normally ends her fights pretty quickly. I guess running around that fast for an extended time tires you out. Who would have guessed?”

Moxie rolled her eyes. “Very funny. I’m surprised you’re not exhausted yourself.”

“I’m a bit tired, but I think being tired is more of a body thing than a soul thing and… well, the body that was tired is currently charbroiled a few hundred feet beneath the ground. But look!”

Noah pulled his sleeve back, proudly showing off the violin’s Imbuement. “Still there!”

“That’s a relief. I admit that I was a little worried that it might have gotten lost when you died, but I guess you do get to keep your other Body Imbuements, so there wasn’t that much to be concerned about.”

“Yeah,” Noah said, his tone thoughtful. “I had a talk with Azel when I got back that went in an interesting direction. He said that our bodies and our souls are connected, just like they are for monsters. It’s just that we have something in between that makes the connection less apparent, or something like that.”

“Interesting. What brought that up?”

“Talking about Imbuements. It isn’t exactly something that’s immediately relevant, but Azel put a lot of emphasis on it. He’s not really one to be helpful for free, so I think it’s probably pretty important. No clue why, though.”

“Same here. Just something to keep in mind, I guess.” Moxie stretched her arms above her head and yawned. “I’m going to go take a shower and go to bed now, though. Lee had the right idea.”

Noah nodded absently. “Yeah. I’ll hold down the fort.”

Moxie headed to the shower, and Noah sat down on the unoccupied bed in the room. He adjusted one of the pillows and leaned back against the wall, his brow furrowed as he reviewed everything that had happened that day, trying to piece together some semblance of a plan for tomorrow.

Despite his claim of not being tired, it took a grand total of a minute before he drifted off, swallowed by the comforting oblivion of sleep.

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