Return of the Runebound Professor

Lee’s mindspace was different than Noah remembered it. Inky darkness still surrounded him when he took form, strands of jet-black crisscrossing through the air around them. Where there had once been seven runes remained only a single Demon Rune. The rune was, as expected, completely unreadable to Noah’s eyes. It looked like a child had been force-fed sugar and let loose with a growing crayon.

Squiggles and lines twisted around each other, pulsating with faint energy. Even though the rune was a Rank 4 – the same as Natural Disaster – a faint sense of unease settled on Noah’s shoulders.

But, even if Noah could have read the Rune, he wouldn’t have been able to see all of it. Thick bands of grey energy wrapped around it, faint motes of dull orange ember rising off them.

Noah went to take a step and nearly tripped over his own feet. The ground felt softer and more pliable than he recalled, and he could feel his feet sinking ever so slightly into it. It took a little more effort than he’d expected to raise a foot, and tiny strands of black snapped away from it.

It’s like putty. Odd.

Lee barely even seemed to notice Noah’s arrival. She stood beside him, staring up at the Demon Rune with wide eyes. The faint orange-red light washing off the Rune illuminated her face in a ruddy hue.

“You okay?” Noah asked, squelching over to Lee.

“Yeah,” Lee said after a moment, not even looking in Noah’s direction. She reached up to her head, massaging her temple with a pained grimace. “There it is.”

“So I can tell,” Noah said. He craned his neck back, squinting into the darkness in search for the Broken Enveloping Dark Master Rune. He couldn’t seem to spot it, but that wasn’t that much of a surprise. Lee’s mindspace was pitch black, and the pressure coming off the rune wasn’t enough to give Noah much hesitation. His own Master Runes were considerably stronger, and it being broken probably wasn’t doing anything to help its power.

“Lee?” Noah asked.

“Yeah?” Lee still didn’t pull her eyes away from the glowing Rune.

“Where’s your Master Rune?”

Lee finally tore her eyes away and looked up. The frown on her lips deepened and she blinked, her features furrowing in confusion. After a second, she shook her head. “I – I have no idea. It vanished!”

She sounded as if she were half-drunk. As Lee turned back to look at her Rune again, Noah caught her by the shoulders and gently turned her so that her back was to it.

“Look at me,” Noah said, tightening his grip slightly to keep Lee’s attention. “You’re stronger than the Rune, Lee. It’s part of you, not all of you. Take a deep breath and let it out slowly, then focus on me.”

Lee gave him a weak nod and did as he said. Her eyes sharpened faintly and she repeated the breath, shaking her head.

“Okay. I’m here. Sorry. The rune is just so… beautiful. I want to touch it – but I don’t want to touch it either. I don’t know what will happen if I do, but I get the feeling it might get stronger and break Azel’s bonds.”

“Perhaps let’s hold off on that until we figure out what’s going on,” Noah said. “Remember, we’ve only got around thirty minutes to deal with this, so let’s go as quickly as possible. What’s the name of your Rune?”

“I’m not sure,” Lee admitted reluctantly. Her head twitched but she caught herself before she could look back at the glowing energy. “I was so certain it was Gluttony. It would have made sense. I like eating.”

“So you do.”

“But it isn’t Gluttony,” Lee said. “I know the rune for Gluttony, and that isn’t it. I don’t recognize whatever that Rune is.”

“I didn’t realize that was possible. I thought you could read Demon Runes.”

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“I thought I could too,” Lee muttered. “I don’t know why I can’t read it. I should be able to. It’s literally meant to represent me. How am I supposed to be represented by a rune I can’t even understand?”

Noah squinted at the rune over Lee’s shoulder. It really didn’t look all that different from any other Monster Runes that he’d seen. If it hadn’t been for Azel’s magic binding it together, he would have assumed it was just a random powerful rune.

Is it possible that Azel’s magic is actually hiding the identity of the Rune from Lee to keep her from understanding it?

“That’s fine,” Noah said. “Don’t stress over it. It would have been nice to figure out what the rune does, but it’s not mandatory by any means. We already know it’s powerful, so what’s more important is figuring out if it’s actively hurting you and if there’s anything we have to do to make sure it doesn’t break free.”

“Right,” Lee said, but she didn’t sound particularly convinced.

“Just stay here for a second,” Noah said. “I’m going to take a closer at your rune. Don’t turn around, okay? Not until I’m back, at least.”

“Okay,” Lee said. “I can do that.”

Noah stepped past her and approached the rune. Energy prickled at his skin and pressure built the closer he got, but his own runes were still more powerful than Lee’s. Compared to Sunder and the Fragment of Renewal, this Demon Rune was nothing.

Noah drew to a stop just before it, studying the energy wrapping it. Whatever Azel had done looked pretty sturdy. He didn’t want to mess with it in risk of possibly damaging the demon’s work, but the restraints around the rune didn’t show any signs of giving in.

Energy crackled faintly along where Azel’s bindings met the rune, but he couldn’t feel the energy from either the rune or its constraints weakening in any way. At least as far as he could tell, the restraints would hold for quite some time.

His primary purpose accomplished, Noah took a few minutes to just study the rune itself. It was definitely more complex than the other Demon Runes that he’d seen in the past nestled within Lee’s mindspace, but that wasn’t really a surprise.

The other runes Noah had seen had been Rank 3s, while this was a Rank 4. But, even in comparison to his own Rank 3 and 4 Runes, the complexity of this rune felt like it was a little higher than it should have been.

I wish I could read the damn thing. Normally, this is where I’d ask Azel what the hell I was looking at, but I guess I won’t be doing that anymore.

Noah was surprised to find that he felt a faint sense of regret at that, and not even because of what Lee had revealed. He’d always known that things were likely to end in a fight between him and Azel, but he’d actually started relying on the demon.

Unfortunately, regret wasn’t going to change anything. Azel wasn’t around to help, which meant Noah had to figure something out on his own. He couldn’t read a Demon Rune, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t try to decipher it.

Noah walked around the rune, chewing the insides of his cheeks as he thought. Every rune had a pattern. That was a fundamental of nature, and the core of what his studies had revealed to him. There was no reason that demons would be an exception, so there had to be a pattern in this one as well. It wasn’t easy to find, but it had to be there.

And, as Noah studied the rune, he occasionally found lines and swirls that felt like they were part of a pattern – but the thread of logic vanished into squiggles the moment he started to follow it.

The pattern just didn’t make any sense. Noah’s frustration grew as minutes ticked away. Lee had claimed that demons and humans were different, but he refused to believe that there was such a chasm between their races.

Magic is magic. It might be different magic, just like music and rune circles are different ways to use Formations, but I refuse to believe that demons are just random worthless squiggles while humans have nice patterns in their Runes. There’s more to it.

Noah completed another loop around the rune, then came to a stop before it again. He wasn’t even sure how much time had passed now, but he still hadn’t come any closer to understanding how the rune worked.

Lee had been patiently waiting for him all this time, and he didn’t want to come back to her with nothing more than a shrug and an empty promise that things would turn out all right. If he wanted to be able to tell her anything, he needed to understand.

Come on. There’s a pattern in there. I know there is. I see the traces of one, but none of them go anywhere. It’s almost as if –

Noah’s thoughts ground to a halt and his eyes went wide. He walked back to the other side of the Rune, staring at it for a few seconds before making his way back over to the first side. He walked a few more circles around it, excitement building in his chest.

“I figured it out!” Noah exclaimed.

“You did?” Lee asked. “What is it? What did you find? You can read the Demon Rune?”

“No, not that,” Noah said, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. “Possibly something more important, though. I know why you can’t read your Rune.”

“You do?” Lee’s hands twitched at her sides as she fought to keep herself from turning around to face Noah. He took pity on her and walked back over so Lee could see him again.

“Yeah,” Noah said. “I thought it was weird that I couldn’t find the pattern in it, you know? I mean, sure – Demon Runes aren’t the same as normal ones, but there still has to be some form of pattern in them. That’s how magic works!”

Lee squinted at Noah. “Please just tell me what’s wrong with my Rune.”

“Oh, right. Sorry. There’s nothing wrong with your Rune, Lee. At least, I’m almost certain there isn’t. The reason you can’t figure out what the heck is going on with it is because you aren’t looking at a Demon Rune at all.”

“What?” Lee asked, frowning. “How is that possible?”

“It’s the reason your Master Rune is missing,” Noah said, shaking his head in disbelief. “When I was studying your Rune, I realized that the reason I couldn’t find a pattern was because there were two patterns overlaid on top of each other. You somehow merged your Demon Rune with the Master Rune, and I’ve got no idea what it left you with.”

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