Return of the Runebound Professor

Noah used a swirl of wind to slow his fall a few moments before his feet hit the ground. His jacket fluttered around him as he landed safely, eyes adjusting to the sudden light. The room around him was surprisingly large – far too large to fit anywhere in the transport cannon’s body.

Metal pipes ran along the walls and twisted past each other like the pattern of a woven scarf. They crisscrossed beneath his feet and jutted up, all covered by imbuements and obscured by inscriptions that ran alongside them.

Shimmers of purple energy swirled at cracks in the pipes and curled up in twists of faint smoke that made the room smell like a mixture of sulfur, brass, and sweat. All the pipes congregated at a single glass pillar in the center of the room. It was so heavily etched with Imbuements that it may as well have been opaque. Something deep within it flickered with muted energy.

Standing before the pillar was, rather than Tim, Brayden. The large man leaned on his sword, streaks of blood running down his arms and his shirt ripped to shreds to reveal seeping wounds beneath.

Across from him was a woman. She wore a flour-stained apron and was a little portly around the waist. The woman spun toward Noah. Her eyes were creased with wrinkle lines from smiling and her cheeks were plump. Several ragged cuts ran through her clothes, but her body was unharmed.

She looked more like a baker than a warrior. A baker that was somehow winning the fight against Brayden, one of the strongest Rank 4 mages that Noah knew. He called on Natural Disaster instantly, letting its power course through his body like a raging river.

“The hell is going on here?”

“Oh goodness,” the woman said. “I wasn’t expecting company so soon. You wouldn’t happen to–”

A thick bolt of lightning roared as it split the air, ripping out of Noah’s hands and slicing out for her. The air around the woman shimmered, waves of heat rolling off her body as the lightning bolt vanished about ten feet before it could reach her.

“That was rude,” the woman said. “Wait your turn, son.”

“Go get help,” Brayden growled. He pulled his sword from the ground and raised it before himself. “She’s a multi-Rune Rank 5. One of Wizen’s. Uses fire.”

The air around the woman ignited with a whoomp and a wave of heat slammed into Noah. He raised his hands defensively, his domain pressing back against her power as he grit his teeth.

“Don’t go chatting while we’re having a fight,” the woman scolded. Fire rolled out across the floor before her and slammed into Brayden. An instant before it could connect and push through his domain, he flickered and vanished in a flash of purple.

He stumbled as he reappeared beside Noah, his breath coming out in ragged bursts. “Come on. You need to go. Now.”

“Wait. Where’s Tim?”

“The old man is fine. He’s hiding somewhere in the room,” Brayden said through a cough. “They’re not after him. There’s an artifact in the transport cannon. I think–”

Another wall of fire rolled toward them. The woman’s power sputtered and faded as it drew close to Noah and Brayden, unable to push through both of their domains. But even though it didn’t connect, the waves of heat that rolled through the air were enough to singe Noah’s eyebrows.

“I told you to stop talking. Don’t you realize it’s rude?” the woman asked.

“Talk about rude. I don’t even know your name,” Noah said, his eyes darting around the maze of pipes in search of Tim. He didn’t give a shit about who the woman was or what he wanted.

“Barb,” the woman said. She flicked her hand and a bolt of fire ripped out, streaking toward Noah. He dove to the side and it screamed past him, slamming into a pipe at his back. A loud hiss escaped it and a stream of purple smoke started to pour out. “And don’t lecture me on manners when you’re the one that attacked me mid-sentence.”

“I got impatient waiting for an answer,” Noah said as he came to his feet.

“She’s got a healer somewhere here,” Brayden said, grinding his teeth and raising his sword again. “Don’t overextend. He’s got light magic that obscures his location and has something that’s letting him hide from my domain.”

“How strong?” Noah asked.

“Not as strong as the old lady.”

“Old?” Barb demanded, her eyes narrowing. “I’ll have you know I’m barely scratching my golden years.”

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She snapped her fingers. Fire coiled around her body with a roar like a dragon. Roiling heat slammed into Noah and he called on Combustion, trying to snuff out the fire. It did nothing – the Master Rune was completely outclassed, and Barb wasn’t relying on combustion to create her fire. It was coming straight from her Runes. He released Combustion and swapped to Natural Disaster, drawing from the moisture around him. There wasn’t much to work with, but he managed to form a rippling barrier an instant before Barb’s flames slammed into it.

The water boiled and evaporated, but it bought their domains enough time to dissipate Barb’s power. She was strong, but she wasn’t powerful enough to completely overwhelm both of them through brute force.

“You seem to be evenly matched against two of us,” Noah said, letting power build in him as he continued to search the room. Even if Barb couldn’t overwhelm them, he didn’t have a way to easily get back at her without using Sunder or a Formation. “What’s your goal here? Why are you attacking Brayden?”

“I don’t care about him. If you both stood out of my way, my quarrel with you would be over.”

“Don’t give her the artifact,” Brayden said. “I know what it is.”

“Then you’re going to have to do a bit more than stand there,” Noah said, lowering his tone and speaking out the corner of his mouth. “Can you hold her off?”

“What does it look like I’ve been doing?”

“Well, do more of it.”

Flame erupted around Barb and washed across the room toward them. Brayden dashed forward and swung his sword. A wave of purple energy followed the weapon’s tip. It cut through the roiling fire and Brayden dashed through the flames as they faded. He lunged at Barb and she raised her hands to send out another torrent of fire – only for Brayden to vanish.

He reformed beside her, his huge sword already hurtling for Barb’s side. The woman leaned back, vaulting out of the way and narrowly avoiding getting carved in two. She landed on her feet and skidded a foot back, her teeth gritting.

“Bah. Sword users. Can’t you just use magic like a normal mage?” Barb complained, pulling her hands through the air. Flame screamed through the air and ripped through pipes, filling the room with even more purple smoke. Brayden teleported away from the attack and formed before Barb, his sword crashing down once more.

She was forced to retreat once again, but her attention was occupied once again. Noah summoned his violin to his hands and started to play. He hadn’t forgotten Brayden’s warning that Barb had a healer somewhere in the area, so it wasn’t like he could completely forget the rest of the world as he played, but he’d been practicing since the fight against Evergreen.

Notes of magic swirled around Noah and filled his song as he started a Formation. The violin muted the sounds of his music to keep it from being too obvious, but it would only be a matter of time before Barb noticed that he was playing a soundless violin.

Before she could do anything, she’d have to throw Brayden off. He was clearly exhausted and running low on magic, but his attacks were relentless. Over and over again his sword fell, forcing Barb to retreat before someone a full rank beneath her.

Noah had no delusions of Barb’s strength. He’d felt the heat of her magic. She’d been summoning flame from nothing. That was something only a Rank 5 could do, and it was clear she was no stranger to it.

Fire was only good if it could connect with its target, though. Brayden’s form slipped through the fire in swirls of purple magic. His features were clad in stone and his blade an advancing wall of metal.

Not for the first time, Noah was grateful that Brayden was on his side. His domain prickled with pulses of magic that washed across it, and Noah let it play into his music. A roaring inferno danced to protect its heart from the wounded hound. The beast’s pursuit was dogged, but while it could nip at the fire, the battle could only end in one way – unless something changed.

The violin grew louder. Energy poured out of Noah’s body as he drained power from Natural disaster to make the housing of the Formation. Whoever Barb’s backup was had yet to strike, but–

A shimmer bent the air at Noah’s side, right at the edge of his domain as it destroyed the magic trying to enter it. From within the magic came a short man wearing white robes and bearing a wooden staff.

Noah recognized him. It was Richard – the healer that he’d seen the day he’d arrived at Arbitage. Surprise played across Richard’s features but he carried forward, sprinting at Noah and rearing back with his staff.

Not a Rank 4, so he can’t use magic in my domain.

Twisting, Noah dodged out of the way of the strike. His music grew faster as he moved around Richard, deftly avoiding the strikes of the man’s staff.

You can’t use my own trick against me, especially when it looks like you’ve never tried to hit someone without magic in your life.

Barb’s eyes flicked over to Noah as his music approached a crescendo. The moment of distraction cost her a deep wound across her shoulder as a line of purple energy carved out of Brayden’s sword and she failed to fully avoid it in time.

Flame erupted around her like a blooming flower, detonating with a brilliant explosion. Brayden flew back, his arms crossed and smoking before his face. He slammed into a nest of pipes and dropped down. Purple smoke hissed out around him from the pipes.

Richard turned to run over to Barb. He took one step before Noah hooked his foot forward, still playing, and yanked the healer’s legs out from under him. He poured Sunder into the Formation building in his song.

“Stop him already!” Barb yelled, pain in her voice as she turned toward Noah and gathered fire around herself.

Richard rolled over and tried to jab his staff up at Noah’s throat. Noah leaned back, avoiding the strike, and kicked the healer in the side of his head. He played faster still. Adrenaline and magic intertwined within his veins.

The violin sang with Noah. Elation grew within it as the song drew closer to its conclusion. Richard groaned and lunged from his spot on the ground, only to catch a heel to the nose. His nose shattered with a crunch and his head slammed back into the ground.

Fire roared toward them from Barb’s hands, the power rippling within the curling sea of red and orange far too great to be held back by the dam of his domain. Heat bit at his face and prickled against his skin. He played one more note.

The violin fell silent.

The Formation came to life.

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