[The first explorers set out in the forbidden lands, rich in mana such that there were rivers of it flowing and ebbing to and fro. They found, gestating in the heart of that mana-rich territory, a Symbol- etched into a surface. Sometimes on a rock. Sometimes even the air- floating along the swirling mana current. We would discover later, due to the relentless experiments and dedication of various mages, especially the first to set out on this pursuit, the Father of Runes -Magus Gar Shial-, their use in refining mana and aligning it to a certain element. They were Elemental Aligners.
His discovery could be attributed to the Ancient Civilizations as they had found a very rudimentary way of using runes as tattoos and weapons. The ruins of the ancient temple of [Ifrit] told a detailed tale of the time and the origin of Magus Gar Shial. We found that before their actual use was discovered they were mainly used as religious symbols of power.
Aeons ago, the people had not advanced far into the path of civilization. The environment was much harsher and theorized to have a higher mana density. They needed a miracle to survive with the gigantic hail falling from the skies and giant Monsters looking for prey to survive the cold. All hope seemed lost…. Suddenly the ground split apart and spat fire- driving the monsters away with the cold. They were scared. However, one of them moved ahead and dug a red crystal from the soft steaming earth.
Weaved into the lattice of the crystal was the fire rune. The man holding the rune crystal was referred to in the murals as [The Descendent]. He led his people to prosperity with the power of the rune. However, he was the only one who could use the rune. The scholars hypothesize that he was the first person to unlock his control of mana. The rest did not know how to move mana and with that, the rune crystal was essentially a rock to them. Unsurprisingly their culture devolved to a religious society based around the bloodline of the [The Descendent].
The shift came when another was born with the gift of mana manipulation- to a higher degree than even [The Descendant]- alongside [Mana Sight]. He saw mana like we see water or earth. He discovered that we could move the mana and use it even without the rune crystal. He became the first mage and had done a lot of research on the fundamentals of mana.
But his very existence was a heresy to the belief of his people. He was secrets were eventually exposed by his lover and was killed by the regent. But all this would be lost if not for the small act of kindness by the regent as he allowed Magus Gar Shial’s ashes to be buried with his tome of knowledge believing that it would allow him to take what he dedicated his life to the afterlife with him.
He then had a tomb built around his grave riddled with traps and murals serving as a warning to any foolish enough to go down that path again.
Many scholars believe that the king was not kind but a great strategist after reading this entry and argue that If he truly wanted the mage to take the tome with him to the afterlife he would have burned it with the body of the mage as was the custom. However, he kept the book. The most likely story would be that he saw this as a way to root out his enemies. They would hear the stories of a book of power left behind by a mystic and they would rush to their death by the numerous traps set up in the tomb.
Later for unknown reasons, [the temple of Ifrit] was built on top of his Tomb. It took the mages 10 years after discovering the temple to find that there was something underneath.
Excerpt from ‘Ancient History of Runes and the Temple of Ifrit.’]
Back in the workshop, Dolen was still busy learning about Runes.
The Rune origin and the rune endings work together to form the [Rune Complex]. Before Dolen could make his first rune complex, he had to practice engraving the rune correctly. These runes contained mysterious powers and had a deep relationship with the world. Every line, every curve had a purpose, thus even a slight mistake in drawing the rune would make the rune lose its meaning.
Dolen looked up from the book and realized that he had walked to his workshop and someone had left a rune engraver on a rough wooden table by the wall. Though it was not as nice as Rudius’, it made Dolen happy nonetheless.
His workshop was also not as refined and good-looking as Rudius’ but it did the job. It was similarly set up, just like his master, with the anvil in the middle and forge on the far wall from the door. Other walls and spaces to the side were covered in finished and half-finished products- armour pieces and swords. The remaining space was taken by all the tools, from hammers to tongs of varying shapes and sizes.
Without wasting any more time, he placed the book on a rough wooden table, picked up a square piece of iron and started the engraving process.
To use the engraver the user had to apply a little of their mana to activate a specialized rune complex on the engraver. It took raw mana from the mana stone, which is used to store mana, and weaved it into a mana thread that you chisel into the metal as you strike the engraver from the back with a hammer. The application of mana was the easy part as Dolen had been taught the use of mana in a variety of smithing techniques.
Blacksmithing in this world was a highly advanced profession, nothing like the medieval ages of Earth. The hardness of some alloys that smiths worked with their hammers would even give the modern hydraulic piston hammers a run for their money. It was inevitable. In a world where there were mana-charged monsters, their claws being able to slice diamonds like they were butter, the Races had to invent armours that could halt their charge. Swords that could pierce their thick, impenetrable hide. And doing all that revolved around mana techniques. [Body strengthening] was the most common mana technique. It increased the power of the body in a well-rounded fashion. Faster Agility. Higher perception. More strength. However, this method had its limitations which required more specialized and advanced strengthening techniques to overcome.
These advanced techniques were well-guarded and incredibly varied. The knights of each house had their own, separated into techniques of varying difficulty- The pure technique only being taught to the main family. Similarly smiths also had specialized mana techniques- Dolen’s being personally taught by Rudius called [Sun forged Steel Body]. It made the hammer strike multiply in force. It strengthened his upper body so he could handle tough metals and gave the lower body a lot of utility- increasing stability, increasing force of the hammer strike when needed and stamina as smiths could spend hours standing, working the metal. These techniques required fine control of mana hence, when it came to the rune engraver utilizing a bit of mana was nothing for him. Similarly wielding a hammer had become second nature to him already.
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But the difficult part was doing these at the same time with an extraordinary level of precision.
The iron square plate was placed on the anvil and Dolen held the hammer in his right hand and the engraver in his left. Dolen closed his eyes to focus and started by first moving his mana to his left hand and activating the engraver. He observed carefully as the raw mana was weaved into a thread-like line. Then Dolen lightly struck the back of the engraver and it pulled the mana thread into the metal with the needle, like a shoe stitching awl. However, Dolen kept staring at it for too long and the mana thread that he had injected into the metal started to dissipate.
He was not surprised. Mana by nature was ethereal and hard to contain. The only way to reliably store it was through mana stones- even they became useless if left out for a few days. The only exceptions were when mana was made into a rune or a magic formation to create a spell. Even the magic formation would only hold the mana for a limited time at most before it had to be recharged. This was also why containers to store mana stones had runes.
Dolen did not wait long to try again and this time he was even able to engrave the complete rune but when he raised his engraver, the mana dissipated. the shape of the rune was incorrect hence the mana did not hold together. “haaaa” Dolen sighed as he realized that he was going to have to practice. A lot.
Taking a fresh iron plate, he started the gruelling process again.
***
Meanwhile, Dolen was busy taking his first steps on the path to becoming a runesmith, a carriage- with a Symbol of a black Stallion head- and its entourage were travelling towards Almar a little farther away.
“We are almost there my lord. A day at most before we reach Almar.” A knight in full plate, also carrying the symbol of stallion, was riding beside the carriage announced, informing his lord. The knight continued, “I suggest pushing as far as we can into the night so we be there by nightfall tomorrow.”
From the open window of the carriage, a young man with a fare completion and bluish-silver hair and white eyes, draped in black tunic and leather trousers of similar colour with a , “Hmm, it would be nice to find a bed tomorrow night but I don’t how much more of this clobbering I wish to take for today." He said as the carriage bounced around on the uneven road.
He stayed silent in contemplation before agreeing to his knight’s suggestion, “All right, do as you see fit Sir Brayd…… I just wish for this journey to end. The sooner we reach Almar, the better.”
“Perhaps you should see and enjoy the outside world more instead of reading books, before you are off to the academy.”
“Perhaps sir Brayd, but i cherish my comfort and health a lot more.”
“You are young now my lord, but that shall not always be the case. You should horde all the experience you can get. Before you blink, you would be older and burdened by responsibilities.”
The young man nodded at that and Sir Brayd did as his lord commanded, increasing the pace of the caravan.
Inside the carriage, Dan Alissi shut off the window thinking, 'perhaps that was more about you then Dan me'. injecting a little mana in a knobby the window made a series of runes glow on the inside.
“Sorry about that. As you know, in my circle one has to keep up appearances. The more people think of me as an incompetent fool the fewer assassins I have to deal with.”
Four people wrapped in black cloaks from head to toe, sitting inside the carriage with him. They made no other sound and had no smell to them. If Dan hadn’t been looking while talking to them, he would have felt like he was speaking to himself.
“Your knight is not trustworthy?” a question from one of the four. Gravelly and masculine.
“No. Sir Brayd is very loyal but he does not know that my family keeps ravens. He is a simple man. A great fighter. Unfortunately, not very good at lying I’m afraid. I trust him with my life…but not with secrets though. And it’s the others that I keep my appearances for. I wonder how many merchants travelling with me are actually spies.”
“Silencing Rune?” this time another one asked. The voice, more feminine
“Yes.” Dan Alissi replied and didn't explain further, moving on to more important matters, “Now that the destination is almost upon us, I wish to discuss your mission.”
Sensing the silence, he continued further, “Since I am going to be your handler on this mission, let me brief you on the targets.”
“Targets?” the first one to speak finally asked.
“Yes, multiple targets. You see- My father- Count Alissi has been investigating a rouge priest of the church of chaos.” “And we have found the local lord, Baron Hasel, to be involved, hence the guise of a trade caravan.”
“A Dark priest? This far south in Gladia? Doesn’t the church usually operate in the [Estaria]?”
“And won’t it be suspicious? A noble from the central region coming all the way to the northern edge of the empire?” another chimed in.
“Yeah. they don’t come south because of their bloody rivalry with the [Temple of Amai ] but this one broke a few rules and was banished. I believe you have already had an encounter with him before.”
“Xoan,” one of them said.
“Yeah. it appears he escaped here. And the cover is just perfect. It just so happens that I have recently come of age and am in need of a decent sword before I am to go to the knight's Academy of Inner Path in the [Capitol]. There is a local smith who is highly skilled and used to serve house Alissi before he formed his own house of Stoll. A courtesy by the emperor for Receiving an Anemos”
“Sunfire Rudius.” Another, helpfully noted.
“Wielder of the hottest flame in all of the Eldean Empire, the one and only. Yes.”
“Ok, the cover seems reliable. So, what do we have to do?” the gravelly voice asked.
“There is already another team keeping an eye on the Baron. As soon as we have enough evidence he will be dealt with. What you need to do is track down the Priest. It was reported that him and ten to fifteen followers had arrived in this region. Whatever they are planning must be stopped. Quietly. We don’t want another Holy war on our hands.”
Dan rifled through his blue overcoat and took out four sets of documents.
“These are your adventurer identities. To fly under the tree line, I have you all listed as silver ranks so keep your display of strength in check.”
“After the first recon, meet up with me at the Flying Swan Inn. While you are it, kill off any ears or eyes he has in the city. That should keep him tied up long enough so he can’t just cut and run.”
The four figures pocketed the documents saying, “We should be finished by the time you reach the city. We will meet up then.”
“Alright, then you best be on your way.”
Then Dan held four fingers to the side of his head in a salute, “His Shade will be a righteous refuge.”
The four figures held their four fingers to their heart in salute, “And his gaze shall erase all evil”
With the briefing complete there was no reason to exchange more words. Dan Alissi turned to open the window to inform Sir Brayd that they should stop for the night.
When he turned back, he was the only one left in the carriage as if no one was there in the first place.