The spell was on the more complex side, similar to the blue fire spell that Jeremy cast from the book, which meant he would probably only be able to cast it two or three times before exhausting himself or his mana, as he was beginning to think about it. Maybe four now that he’d gained more experience and his overlay shifted in color again.
It had what appeared to be three main components, two of which had smaller sub-runes associated with them. They were arranged in a formation with words in the language that Jeremy recognized as the one from the book. The characters were so foreign that they could be different types of runes for all Jeremy knew, except they seemed to be arranged linearly, and their purpose in the book appeared to be defining the spells. He would have no idea how to even begin pronouncing the words, though.
Several of the runes were quite familiar now that Jeremy got a better look at them. He turned to the book’s page with the list of magic types to compare them with the spell. The first main component consisted of conjure and the rune he had yet to name but that was a significant component of the healing spells and one of the magic types. He tapped his pen while trying to think of a label but decided he still did not have enough information to define it. So he drew a little arrow and wrote healing/life/essence? This component also consisted of a sub-rune he was unfamiliar with and a string of the strange writing.
The second component had only two main runes: conjure again and one of the other magic types he had not yet seen in an active spell but was listed in the book. He wrote a big fat question mark next to it. The third component consisted of that same unknown magic type and the rune for manipulate.
Which made logical sense. He had to first conjure this type of magic and then manipulate it. The curious thing was that there was no need to conjure the healing/life/essence type of magic, which perhaps implied that it was always present. Like the manipulate healing/life/essence component, the manipulation of the unknown magic type had an unfamiliar sub-rune and string of writing.
He flipped through the book, searching each page for the unfamiliar sub-runes. He also took note of the structure of the spells. Now that he looked harder, he could see many of the more advanced, multi-step spells with multiple components had sub-runes and writing incorporated into them. Sometimes, these seemed to be set in stone, while other times, a blank space was written into the spell, and several options were provided below it.
Jeremy concluded that they must be modifiers of some type. Witchcraft and magic in movies often involved chants or oral spells that tossed the spellcaster’s intent out into the ether so that the magic would actually do what they wanted. He figured the language component did something similar to direct the spell where a general rune might be too vague. Or something along those lines.
After all, the intention is built in when simply visualizing the results to cast a spell. But if one concentrates on visualizing the runes, the intent might get lost along the way, so words might help. And in an instruction manual written on paper, they would be necessary to understand the full scope of what needed to go into the spell.
He only found one of the two subrunes, which did not tell him much. It seemed to be primarily used as a sub-rune throughout the book, although there was one section where it was utilized heavily in most of the spells, even as a main component. Still, that did not tell him much about it, so he drew a little question mark and sighed. He would have to try the spell out somewhere away from where it could cause mass destruction.
Jeremy set the book aside and stretched, reaching his arms above his head and groaning as he felt his back pop in various places. He dropped his hand to his lap and smacked his lips, thinking he should probably get up and find food. After staring at the book for what had to be at least an hour, he was actually pretty sleepy, but he was even more hungry.
So, he changed out of the sweatpants and back into his usual attire. He threaded his belt through his jeans, secured his knife to it, and tucked the dragon scale into his pocket. He glanced over at the gym bag filled with scales and thought he might get them out and try drilling some holes into them to start creating scale armor. He’d have to look up some videos to see how to actually construct such a thing first. But that was for later.
For now, he tugged on his boots and headed for the door. Atticus let out a pretty demanding meow as he did, and he turned back to frown at her. “What?”
She sat on the corner of one of the beds, tail flipping around expectantly. Jeremy glanced at the window and the angle of the sun, then decided it was probably time for her to eat dinner, too. Four cans of cat food were left in the bags, along with a couple of treats. Jeremy pried one of the cans open and scooped about a quarter into the bowl he’d brought up to use for her food the other day. Atticus leaped off the bed and stuck her face into the bowl to munch. Jeremy put the open can of cat food in the little mini fridge beneath the TV, then went out to find his own dinner.
More tents had been added to the parking lot around the original command tent. There also seemed to be far more guardsmen walking around than before. Jeremy wondered if Captain Byrne had finally reported to her superiors and, as a result, they had gotten more resources because of the successful mission. He spotted a familiar figure emerging from one of the tents and called out.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
“Hale!”
She spotted him and waved. “Hey, I thought you would be resting up.”
“I’m not all that tired.” Jeremy jogged over to her and fell in step as she headed out of the maze of tents and to a spot along the edge of the parking lot where a tree shaded the curb. She plopped down in the shade and stretched her legs out with a sigh.
“Well, I’m exhausted,” she said.
Jeremy sat beside her. “It was all just walking around and defending against the creatures that attacked us for the most part. I’ve been doing that for the past week, so I guess I’m getting used to it. Why are you so tired? It looks like you guys got more help in.”
He waved his hand to indicate to all the new tents that had popped up. She looked at him out of the corner of her eye, then looked down at the files resting in her lap. “More people just means more work. It’s not really my job to deal with logistics. I’m just supposed to lead the team monitoring the dungeon, but we’re stretched a little thin, so I’ve ended up juggling a couple of different jobs since we got back.”
“I guess it’s good that the guard is taking the dungeon seriously and sending more resources to keep monitoring it. Hopefully, they do the same thing at the other dungeons that have been found,” Jeremy said.
“Yeah, we’ll see.” Hale’s lips twisted down like she did not believe for a minute that the response would be adequate. “All this started to arrive before you guys got back out. It’s meant to be for building a blockade around the portal. Sort of a miniature of what they’ve done at the gates. But now that the dungeon has been cleared, I’ve heard rumors they will pull out.”
“But the portal might still be active.” Jeremy frowned as well. “We don’t really know how us clearing the dungeon is going to affect things. All that stuff might re-spawn for all we know.”
“Actually, I’m pretty sure it is still active,” Hale told him. The infrared is picking up a higher heat signal than before you went in, so something is happening. Captain Byrne probably will arrange something under the table to keep an operation here no matter what. You should stick around.”
Jeremy leaned back. “What gave you the impression I’d be leaving?”
She shrugged. “Just a hunch. But, it would be helpful if you stayed to keep an eye on the dungeon’s overlay as we continue to monitor it.”
Jeremy pursed his lips and looked up at the sun glinting off the windows of the hotel building. He had a bit of a hunch that he would not be staying here, too. Even though Captain Byrne seemed to have no problem making her own decisions regardless of whether they clashed with the guard’s overall policy, he was not sure that hanging around here would be beneficial. Long-term monitoring of this single dungeon would not give him the experience he wanted to gain. But there had also been another thought worming around in the back of his mind ever since he decided to join the squad going into the dungeon.
“I think it would be more helpful for me to figure out a way for everyone to be able to see the overlays the way that I do. And to do that, I need to learn more and gain more experience in a wide variety of magic. I’m sure there’s a way to create a spell or something. But just staying in one place and observing the same dungeon won’t help me figure that out.”
Hale bobbed her head. “I get it. You’re a big-picture kinda guy. Too bad you have to move on. You and Captain Byrne are two birds of a feather.”
“I plan to try to keep in contact with her,” Jeremy thought out loud.
He abruptly remembered Sean from the Council and how he’s had a general in his contacts. Captain Byrne was not a general, but she was a good contact to have. It was a bit amusing that Jeremy was managing to build a network and begin figuring out magic all on his own without any assistance from the council. Well, except for the book, but he’d technically stolen that. He didn’t often like to let himself get into a pissing contest with people. Still, he let himself gloat a little bit and imagined what it would be like to craft this new spell, have magic and the creatures all figured out, and the military in his back pocket when he finally encountered someone from the council again.
“Right,” Hale smirked, looked off to the side, then glanced back over at him. “Think I could get your number to stay in contact?”
Jeremy really needed to get a phone. Whatever expression on his face must have put Hale on edge because she suddenly put her hands out in defense. “Purely professional. So, I can update you about the dungeon, and you can tell me what you find out if you encounter any other ones.”
“That’s cool.” Jeremy palmed his face, then looked Hale over and considered whether or not to leave it like that. “It’s just I don’t have a phone. It got smashed. I can give you my friend Caleb’s number, and you can contact me through him for now.”
He winced at how that sounded.
“Jeremy!”
He looked up to see Zanie waving her arms and bounding toward him. She no longer had her hair loose but braided back, with her usual bandana wrapped around the knot of braids on the crown of her head. She stopped in front of them with her hands on her hips.
“Hey, Zanie.”
“You’re back alright.”
She grinned down. “How did it go?”
“Just fine,” Jeremy said. “We cleared all the creatures out, and the structure on the other side of the portal collapsed, but the portal is still there, so they are continuing to monitor it. Hale is on the team doing the monitoring. Hale, this is Zanie, a friend of mine.”
“Hi,” Hale put a hand over her eyes to shield them from the sun as she smiled up at Zanie, who waved back.
“Glad you’re back safe,” Zanie said. “You can tell me all about it later, but for now, I’ve got to get back. We are configuring all the computers to run on a thirty-hour day instead of a twenty-four-hour one. I just saw that your team was back and wanted to see if I could find you.”
She backed away as she spoke and was about to give another little wave and turn when Jeremy asked, “Where’s Caleb?”
“Who knows?” She shrugged and disappeared into the complex of tents.
Jeremy shook his head and wondered if she would want to stay here with all these other software scientists and whatnot or if she would want to tag along with Jeremy on the off chance that he might find another dungeon she could actually explore in person.
“Here,” Hale held out her phone. “Put your friend’s number in there, and I’ll keep you updated.”